To Ascend
by Loopsey
Summary: Kamijou Touma was never what one could call 'normal'. He has gone through life with strange things always happening near him. Things were going to get even stranger. Warning: AU, possible OOC behavior, OP! Touma. How he's OP will be explained.
1. A Shocking Encounter

Pre-Chapter Notes: Well, this is the first thing I've ever actually written (not posted on this site, which was A Certain Feline Saint). Truth be told, I never thought I would actually post this. More elaborations on this story will be found after the chapter is finished.

Warning: AU, possible OOC behavior, OP!Touma (I know that some people love that Touma was normal and still managed to win against supernatural foes like Acqua of the Back or Archangel Gabriel. If you love that, then you might hate that I'm giving Touma a power up.)

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma was more often than not known as a misfortunate boy. He simply wanted to live in peace, despite the abnormalities of Academy City.

Academy City had its name due to the multitude of schools, colleges, and universities residing within it. The abnormality came from the students attending these educational institutions, who all had a special talent in common.

They were all Espers.

Espers were humans who gained special psychic abilities, such as pyrokinesis or teleportation, through the power of science. Each and every student had gone through the Power Curriculum Program, in which their powers are developed by the school they attend.

However, some only stay as people with nonexistent abilities, who are labeled as Level 0's, while the other end of the scale holds the legendary Level 5's, whose abilities can easily destroy an army if utilized properly.

Kamijou was only a Level 0, despite his strange ability. The ability in question, which is more commonly known as the Imagine Breaker, manifests itself in the form of his right hand. It nullifies any and all supernatural occurrences that came in contact with it.

The boy who held this ability would sometimes boast that not even the blessing of God could keep its form if it came into contact with his right hand.

He lazily stretched his arms over his head while crossing the bridge at night. He had just recently outran some drunken delinquents who had tried to pick up the wrong girl. If they had known who it was they had tried to proposition, they would have run regardless of chasing him.

He had led them away before the girl could do something that would leave the thugs in need of medical attention. Considering Kamijou's physical condition, he could have just sprinted out of their sight within seconds (and even run circles around the drunken delinquents while mocking their speed in a shameless manner, but that wasn't very polite) , but he had to constantly bait them away or they would go back to the girl.

Kamijou sighed as he trudged towards the dorm room where he could finally get some sleep after such a misfortunate and tiring (mentally, of course, the boy couldn't remember the last time he had gotten physically tired) day.

'_Well, there's no other way this night can go wrong, right?_' Kamijou thought hopefully.

At a later time, Kamijou would wonder why the hell he thought that his misfortune would actually give him a break.

Suddenly, he held up his right hand in a nonchalant manner, as if to wave hello. A bright bolt lightning struck it head on before dispersing as if it had never existed. His right eyelid twitched erratically as he slowly turned around looking at the source of the electric discharge. His superb eyesight easily saw the brown-haired female at the other end of the bridge. She was standing there with her arms crossed and a complex expression on her face, that much he could gather.

"What do want, Biri Biri?" Kamijou questioned the middle schooler. Her own eyelid twitched at the seemingly condescending nickname before she reluctantly calmed herself.

"First off, my name is Misaka Mikoto," The now identified middle-schooler stated. "Second, why are you running from some random idiots when you can just beat them with your weird power?"

He sighed while rubbing his spiky hair with his left hand before answering, "What did you do to them, Biri Biri?"

"Hm? Ah, I just gave them a little shock," The girl said dismissively while flicking a hand through her hair. After she finished the seemingly flippant gesture, a spark of electricity ran through her brown locks.

"And here I was, hoping to end the day with nobody getting hurt." Kamijou murmured.

Then he stated in a normal voice, "Well, I hope you have a nice night, Biri Biri, goodbye." He turned and walked away while waving his right hand.

"M'kay, well, goodby- Screw that, I'm not falling for that again!" She shouted in an accusing tone.

"Damn, I should have known she'd catch on, I mean, she's a frickin Level 5" Kamijou cursed under his breath, having hoped to not get involved with the girl that day.

Yes. The girl was one of the seven Level 5's in Academy City. Specifically, she was especially known as the Railgun because of her signature technique.

Why she wanted to bother spending time chasing a measly Level 0 like him, Kamijou could never personally understand. He had met her a month ago when he had seen her shock some thugs who tried to proposition her. This time he had led her away from the delinquents so that they wouldn't be shocked.

"Now that I've found you, we can finally finish our fight," the girl said heatedly.

"Erm, are you sure there's no way we can't simply head on our way home without a duel?" Kamijou asked, despite already knowing the girl's answer.

"Nope," Misaka said in a faux cheerful tone, before her body became surrounded in a cacophony of sparks and electricity. Kamijou grimaced, turning back to the girl again and readying himself for the first assault.

She started by discharging a large lance of lightning at him, knowing that his enigmatic power would allow him to survive. He slapped it away in a nonchalant manner, while the electricity once again dispersed from contact with his right hand.

"How come every time I say that I'm just a normal Level 0, you still throw more of that stuff at me?" He asked, again already knowing the answer. Misaka narrowed her eyes before chucking a cluster of electricity at him. To respond to that, he simply raised the Imagine Breaker without looking at the attack itself. He hadn't batted an eye at the large discharge dispersing with a sound of broken glass ringing out.

"It's kind of hard to believe that you're some measly Level 0 when you can stop my electricity with a wave of your hand." She snarked, while staring at him doubtfully. She was still wondering what might cause the boy to finally start fighting a little seriously.

She took a little pride in her abilities, and then some unknown boy just came out of nowhere who could destroy her electricity without regarding her as a serious threat. Misaka was a bit curious at the fact that despite being a Level 5, there was still someone besides the Number One and Seven that could take the electricity with their bare hands and come back for more.

"Ugh," Kamijou grunted at her response. He decided that honesty might help him get home and sleeping in his bed faster. "It's this right hand of mine. Every single time an esper ability touches it, they get nullified."

"I find it somewhat hard to believe that an ability like that exists, and even harder to believe that you're still a Level 0 because of it," Misaka deadpanned irritably. She mulled it over in her head and made a decision,' _Time to kick it up a notch._'

"Tell me, do you know what a railgun is?" she asked the unlucky boy without warning. She then reached into her skirt pocket, pulling out a seemingly harmless arcade coin. He twitched, both from the coin and the sudden gleam of mischievousness that her eyes gained.

'_Hoo boy, this won't be good_,' Kamijou thought pessimistically. He had some justification, considering his past meetings with some of the other Level 5's.

"Yes, yes, I do." He answered reluctantly, a small part of him fervently hoping that what she was going to do wasn't what he thought she was going to do.

'_Oh, who am I kidding? Of _course_ she would do something like that_.' Kamijou groaned internally.

"Well then, prepare yourself!" She exclaimed, while flicking the coin into the air. Sparks of electricity danced wildly on her profile, while he watched the coin nervously with hands occasionally twitching.

It came back and Misaka flicked it in Kamijou's direction with her thumb. A roar of electricity blasted out through the air, as a giant orange beam of electricity sped along towards the spiky, black haired boy.

A sharp glint appeared in Kamijou's eyes. He fearlessly held up his right hand, as if to motion something to a stop. The Railgun made contact with the Imagine Breaker. As Kamijou stood unfaltering before the beam, the ground under his feet caved in while his hand was still staving off the beam. The 'normal Level 0' then performed an action that bewildered Misaka even further.

As the beam slowly dispersed, he calmly closed his fist, which was smoking from the excess heat of the energy discharge. Despite the ridiculous heat, electricity, and force behind the destructive attack, the right hand was perfectly alright. Kamijou brought the limb up to his face, blowing on it intensely while waving it to get the smoke and smell of o-zone off.

He opened his hand palm up, and surprisingly enough, there was something in it. It was a melted piece of metal that was cooling in the middle of his hand. Misaka stared at him incredulously, while thinking, '_What just happened?_'

"Umm, was I not supposed to catch it?" Kamijou asked sheepishly, while holding up the cooled metal remains of the coin between his index finger and thumb. He looked at the girl, who was still standing at the same spot while staring at the misfortunate boy with wide eyes.

His own eyes soon mirrored hers, remembering that normal people weren't supposed to easily stop and nullify large beams of destruction. He soon wrenched his feet out of the miniature crater under him while dropping the metal-that-was-once-a-coin.

"Uhh, see, my dorm has this curfew, so, umm, got to go, bye!" Kamijou excused himself feebly before turning and sprinting away at incomprehensible speeds. To the normal eye, he had simply blurred out of existence, not unlike a teleporter.

Misaka Mikoto shook her head to try and clear out the shock of what had just happened. Then her eyes fell upon the dropped piece of metal. She walked over to it slowly, as if afraid that it would run away like a scared animal. Misaka felt like it took centuries to get over to the crater, when in actuality, the time spent moving over to it was much less.

When she finally got to the crater, she slowly bent down on one knee. The Electromaster reached a quivering hand over to the metal, flinching back once, but still picking it up. Misaka raised it to eye-level before looking it over. She also glanced down at the crater, where there were imprints of the spiky-haired boy's feet from earlier.

Misaka took a slow, shuddering breath, and then reluctantly pocketed the metal before beginning the trek back to her dorm. She had been hoping to run into the boy, hoping to get some questions answered. Oh, they had been answered alright. But it seemed like for every one question that was answered, three took its place.

"Who are you?" Misaka questioned out loud.

Silence.

She looked in the direction that the boy had sprinted away to before steeling with resolve. She _would_ find him again and she _would_ get her answers.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Well, that's just about it.

Time to summarize this chapter a bit:

Summary of Chapter 1:

Touma is hinted to have had encounters with Level 5's other than Mikoto. (It makes sense, considering the hints from Misaki Shokuhou in NT volume 7. So I decided to expand on it.)

Mikoto didn't chuck iron sand or call a freaking lightning bolt down at him… but she did launch a railgun.

Touma blocks the railgun, despite the kinetic force behind it (I kind of disagree with the Railgun manga, Touma had to feel _some_ force behind the blast), and also catches the melted coin.

Toumma escapes at impossible speeds, leaving Mikoto once again confused and in need of answers.

Alright, time to state the main change in this AU. Touma is in complete control of his extremely obscure abilities. As in, the Imagine Breaker and the Mysterious Power that he used to suppress the Invisible Thing. As for the Invisible Thing, I'm going to put my own little twist on **IT **(Capitals and Bold necessary).

There is a lot that Kazuma Kamachi left vague about Kamijou Touma and his abilities, so I decided to put my own little interpretation in. Like I mentioned in the warnings above, if you loved how Touma was able to beat his hilariously super-powered enemies when he was normal, then you might not tolerate this. If you don't like this, then please don't leave any flames.

I don't really want to offend anyone; I just want to express my own ideas on Touma's abilities. There will be other changes in my retelling of the story. I can tell you that Touma will not lose his memories. I mean, really now, what's the point of giving him a power-up when his memories of how to use those powers will be blasted away like dust to the wind?

If you want to know how OP Touma is… well, as I said above, he is channeling the Mysterious Power that he used to suppress the Invisible Thing. The Invisible Thing made even Fiamma of the Right, who gained power equivalent to La Persona Superiore a Dio, cower in fear. The Invisible Thing made Fiamma's power pale in comparison to its own.

And now Touma's more powerful than both of them.

….

Yeah, I can tell you he's not going to be chucking around his power like it's going out of style. I have read many stories about the MC's flaunting their power, but I'll do my best to make Touma as subtle, yet mind-blowing as I can. He simply uses the Mysterious Power to break through his limits as a human. He will do more later, but it won't be until his more powerful opponents come along.

It's kind of like Saitama in that gag manga, One Punch Man. He becomes so strong that he beats everything with one punch. I once saw a fanart of both Touma and Saitama doing a fist-bump, and it gave me a bit of motivation to start this.

If you have any questions, I'll try to answer them in a PM.

Well, that's all for now.


	2. Strange Days

Pre-Chapter Notes: Well, here's the second chapter of this AU story. Now to respond to the few, but appreciated reviews I got.

Review Answering Segment:

Shinnypichu88: First, thanks for being my first review on this story, it means a lot. Now to answer your question, I edited chapter 1 for a spelling error and to add some italics, so I also added some Author Notes on how Touma could be OP. My explanation may be horrid, but try to bear with me.

Darkdeath12: Well, Touma before his memory loss did have a lot of confidence when he could boast about nullifying the blessings of God in canon. One of the things I'm changing is giving him the power to back up his words. I have always had a question of my own concerning Touma's strength: When Touma found out about the Imagine Breaker and its limit while growing up in Academy City, why didn't he try to train his body and/or learn some martial arts? Well, I gave Touma the strength, but the martial arts part is kind of iffy when he has Precognition and enough power coupled with speed to defeat anybody he faces with a single hit.

Warning: AU, possible OOC behavior, OP!Touma, and now adding a bit of genderbending. (You'll know one of the people who will be genderbent in this chapter. There might be more in the future, but I'm not sure.)

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma opened his bleary eyes slowly, while raising his torso up off his bed to stretch his arms. He blinked a bit at the brightness of the sun, before moving off his bed to begin the morning.

The spiky-haired boy cast a bleary eye outside his transparent sliding door which led to the balcony, setting his sights at the space elevator which was in the middle of construction in the distance before resuming his preparation for the school day. Kamijou had been a bit irritated that morning due to not getting enough sleep after that run in with the Railgun last night.

'_At least she didn't throw a lightning bolt at me this time_' Kamijou thought with relief.

It was true that the Level 5 Electromaster had thrown lightning bolts straight out of the clouds at him. She also used magnetism from time to time to throw iron sand shaped into weaponry at him. His right eye twitched when remembering the iron sand blade that had a fine-enough edge to slice a leaf in half.

Touma made sure that his apartment was in order before grabbing his book bag and leaving to get to his supplementary classes at A Certain High School.

He had completely missed the white-clad European nun with silver hair that fell past his apartment window.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Stiyl Magnus was currently observing the person who the General Superintendent had asked him to watch. Truth be told, the boy –Kamijou, Stiyl remembered- didn't seem like anything special at a first glance. Alyssa Crowley had told Stiyl when the boy would get off from school, so there was no problem with interrupting his classes. But the presence he held was chilling. He walked with the gait of someone who held all the power in the world and didn't care for a single bit of it.

'_Not even Kanzaki feels like that,_' Stiyl thought pensively, feeling slightly disturbed by the way Kamijou held himself. His slowly-growing wariness of the boy with the Imagine Breaker (he still had trouble coming to terms with the fact that an ability like that existed) increased even further when he felt Kamijou send glances in his direction.

He remembered what Crowley had said about the boy being paranoid after that incident with the Kihara family. Stiyl had read the file on what happened, and was both horrified and impressed by what Kamijou had gone through. Any normal person with Kamijou's power would have snapped and destroyed everything in their sight after a four-month-long, global, wild goose chase/survival game with those mad scientists. He'd even unknowingly commented on it aloud while reading the file.

Crowley had given the fire magician one blunt statement in response to the comment,

"Kamijou is not normal."

Stiyl shook his head to clear his thoughts, before setting his sights back on Kamijou, who had started a small bout of banter with a girl who was… conducting electricity?

He blinked at the odd sight. Stiyl had studied a bit about espers and their abilities in London before getting sent to Japan for his assignment, but it was still surreal to see a seemingly normal middle-school girl conduct electricity like a tesla coil without using some kind of magic. After she threw some lightning at the spiky-haired boy (Which Kamijou was fast enough to dodge, giving Stiyl a bit of a surprise), all of the nearby electronics started malfunctioning.

The red-haired boy thought for a moment, pulling out his own cell phone. His tongue clicked when he saw that it was malfunctioning like all of the other electronics. Stiyl closed his eyes for a long moment, pocketing the phone.

'_Crowley had better pay me well for this_,' the fire magician thought irritably. As Kamijou had increased his pace to get home, Stiyl observed as some of the delinquents in the nearby alleys cringed in fear, staring with horror-filled eyes pinned on Kamijou while staring at him like he was an unstable nuclear bomb.

Stiyl had seen in the file about Kamijou Touma that he had single-handedly beaten up and thrown every Skill-Out (As the gang members of Academy City were called) out of District 7 at the age of thirteen. At first, he had little to no problem with them around.

That is, until they started those raves at night and interrupted his sleep.

Security footage had shown that Kamijou had walked into the rave, trashed the stereo and DJ, before starting a loud lecture about how important sleep was. In response to the spontaneous and rude action, the Skill-Outs had started bringing out knives, pipes, baseball bats, even some guns here and there, before attacking the spiky-haired thirteen-year-old. It was quite a sight seeing a sum of at-least-seventy, roughly age-nineteen Skill-Outs cowardly ambush a younger boy who just wanted to get some sleep.

The mob of Skill-Outs never stood a chance.

Stiyl was still slightly unnerved of what Kamijou had done on the footage. The boy had simply stayed in place before all of the attackers had started flying backward, as if hit by an invisible force. The fire magician had thought that the Imagine Breaker had been the ability that pushed them all back and had questioned Alyssa on whether or not nullification of supernatural effects was its only ability.

In response, the General Superintendent of Academy City had frozen the video, slowed down the footage to a thousandth of a second, and politely asked Stiyl to look at Kamijou again.

What he saw was something that he thought only Kanzaki Kaori or another Saint could pull off. Kamijou's form was still the same, except his limbs were now blurs to the camera. Stiyl also saw that the Skill-Outs closest to the boy had parts of their bodies caving in, as if someone had struck them with an invisible attack. He came to the conclusion that Kamijou was beating them all away so fast that even the coveted technology of Academy City could barely keep up.

After the first batch of incapacitated delinquents, Kamijou had taken advantage of the confusion to start moving and continue his speedy assault. The one-sided massacre (Stiyl refused to call it a battle when the disoriented delinquents did not even get a single strike on the thirteen-year-old) had been over in minutes, dozens of incapacitated Skill-Outs lying on the ground. The incident had made Kamijou infamous and started a whole new pack of rumors revolving around him. It had also gained him a new nickname as well.

The Sleeping Dragon of District 7.

Alyssa had stated that phrase with a small bit of amusement, and Stiyl could see why. The 'Dragon' in question barely looked like he could even harm a fly. However, both Stiyl Magnus and Alyssa Crowley knew very well that appearances could be deceiving. He was dubbed that name due to being a vicious attacker when provoked, like the sleeping dragons from old stories.

Kamijou had then gone on a warpath, clearing out the entire district of 'danger to sleeping students' and coming into contact with Academy City's darker elements. Due to the initial incident, and many more involving Skill-Out groups and even running into underground teams like SCHOOL or ITEM after unintentionally busting some of Academy City's more obscure projects, District 7 eventually became a haven free of Skill-Outs and activity from the Dark Side of Academy City. The only thing that could be called a problem was the grouping of delinquents who stopped going to school, but they just stayed in the shadows, fearful of Kamijou's legendary wrath.

Stiyl looked around District 7, trying to find where Kamijou had gone. About halfway to the district, the spiky-haired boy had started taking obscure twists and turns down alleyways, making it all the more difficult for the magician to keep track of him. Stiyl groaned while massaging his temples to keep the on-coming headache from taking hold.

'_I think it's about time for a break._' Stiyl thought before sitting down on a nearby bench and pulling out a packet of cigarettes. He took one out before muttering a Latin word to make a small fire flicker on the end of his finger. The fire magician used it to light the cigarette before taking a long drag from it. He blew out the smoke in a long, tired sigh, vaguely noting that someone sat down next to him.

"Having a bad day?" The person asked.

Stiyl took another drag out of cigarette before exhaling the smoke again. He mumbled, "You don't know the half of it." before turning his head to get a good look at the person who was sitting next to him. He froze, seeing just _who_ it was.

"Try me." Kamijou Touma offered, with a sharp glint in his eyes.

"But before that, do you mind telling me why I'm being followed around by a magician? I thought that after the last time, I made it clear to Tsuchimikado that he should try to keep magic away from me, what with the Imagine Breaker and all." He continued, holding up said right hand.

Stiyl's eyes narrowed, trying to figure out when the onmyoji had broken his cover and how Kamijou know of magic. Alyssa had not given him a single piece of information that gave the hint that Kamijou had known about magic. Either he didn't know that Kamijou knew about magic (and that was borderline impossible, considering Alyssa Crowley knew just about _everything_ going on in her city.) or…

'_Damnit, you bitch_,' Stiyl thought furiously. The woman had purposely withheld the information, if only to draw amusement from the reaction on the magicians face when he found out.

"Do you mind telling me how you know I'm a magician, then?" the fire magician asked in a blunt tone. Kamijou put a contemplative look on his face, opening his mouth and answering,

"Nope."

"….It was worth a try," Stiyl muttered to himself after a brief pause, flicking away his used-up cigarette in a nearby trash can. He sighed (Stiyl seemed to be doing that a lot lately), deciding that honesty was possibly the only chance he had of not getting his face punched in.

"Did Tsuchimikado tell you about mana, the Idol Theory, and all that other stuff?" Stiyl inquired. Kamijou gave a nod at the question.

'_Good, that's less explaining I have to do_.' The red head thought with relief.

"Alright then, my turn," Kamijou stated, while clasping his hands together. "Did the Board of Directors send you?" The magician shook his head, confused about what the 'Board of Directors' had to do with this.

"Did the Kiharas send you?" Another shake of the head, while Stiyl made a mental note to ask Crowley about exactly _how_ paranoid Kamijou was.

The Level 0 high school student sighed in relief, before lying back on the bench and brought his eyes up to the sun, which was finally starting to set after the long day. Both he and Stiyl stayed like that for a couple of minutes, thinking about what topic they should converse about.

Kamijou broke the silence and asked, "So, how's Academy City going for you?"

Stiyl wondered whether or not to answer, before deciding to bite the bait, "Well… It's kind of crazy knowing that a place like this exists outside of a science fiction novel."

Touma had to give a crooked smile and a good-natured chuckle at those words.

"Yeah, just about everybody who visits at one point or another says something like that. Truthfully, once you get past the robots, futuristic technology, and super-powered hormonal school kids, it's just like any other regular town." Kamijou put forward, before blinking at the deadpan stare he received from the magician.

"Too much?" Stiyl nodded, still staring at him. The dark-haired boy shrugged, getting up and stretching.

The fire magician blinked and asked, "You're not going to make me answer why I'm in the city?"

Kamijou gave him a quick glance, before shrugging again. "I don't really care why you're here as long as you don't hurt anyone."

He narrowed his eyes when Stiyl's hands twitched at those words.

"Have a nice time in Academy City." Touma said, walking away in a leisurely manner to his dorm.

The fire magician watched Kamijou Touma walk away, giving a long sigh and walking in the direction of the Windowless Building.

'_We're going to have a long talk, Alyssa Crowley_,' Stiyl Magnus thought, determined to get all the information he could from the General Superintendent of Academy City.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Well, there you go. I have now put out some changes that this AU will have.

In no particular order, we have:

Index didn't land on Kamijou's balcony.

Touma has met the Kihara family in the past and gotten into some crazy worldwide adventures because of it. (In the Light Novel, it explained that Touma had skipped four months' worth of classes, so I decided to slot in my own little rendition of what happened during that time.)

Kamijou gaining a bit of a reputation when he was younger after beating the crap out of some Skill-Outs because he wanted some sleep, while garnering the attention of SCHOOL and ITEM in some way.

Stiyl observes Touma, wondering briefly about his abilities. Kamijou and Stiyl have a little talk, revealing that Touma knew about magic from Tsuchimikado.

This is an AU, as I've stated several times before, so I am going to take ruthless advantage of that to alter details here and there. Like Aleister Crowley being genderbent to Alyssa Crowley (Bet you weren't expecting _that_, were you? The anime concept art of the male character I turned into a female had a freaking bust line, so I decided to try it.) and Tsuchimikado telling Touma about magic.

If you have any questions that don't involve me giving spoilers, leave them in a review. With that said, please leave some reviews and spread the word of this story.

That's all for now. - Loopsey


	3. Index Librorum Prohibitorum

Pre-Chapter Notes: Just to let you people know, I'm releasing this chapter and chapter 4 at the same time. Time to answer some reviews before the chapter starts…

Review Answering Segment:

ArmoredCoreNineBall: I already explained everything for you in a PM so there's not much I can put here. Anyway, thanks for the review and I hope that this double chapter update is satisfying.

Darkdeath12: Yeah, genderbending Aleister was a split-second decision. This is an AU and it seemed like a nice change. Also, about Seria having something to do with Kamijou's four-month absence from school…. She is involved in it, but saying anything further would be spoilers. As for Touma's physical condition, he's stronger than that. I have already stated his power level in my Author Notes on Chapter 1.

Encendrel: Touma has had those powers for years, and he has time to get used to them and refine them.

Anon Reviewer (That was the name label, so I'm going with it.): To answer your first question, there will be references to Railgun events in the future, and there's even a Railgun character appearing in this chapter. On your second question, Laura Stuart and her subordinates know and maybe a few others, but that's about it. For your third and final question, Stiyl's phone malfunctioned because Misaka threw around some lightning. Considering that espers are part of Alyssa's domain, he's seeking compensation to replace his cell phone.

Takawai: Judging from your Avatar picture, I'm guessing that you're that jalvin dude from Anime-Suki who said that the Kanzaki snippet was awesome. By the way, thanks for that. It's been edited to fit in as Chapter 4 of this story. You still have to check it out because it's been changed from the Anime-Suki version.

gb: Touma being OP was the base idea of this fic in the first place. I had decided during the planning to make it a full blown AU story. Also for pairings, I'll let you guess for now. The canon storyline…..

Let me put it like this. What I've done is break apart the storyline and every plot element in it. Characters, items, abilities, the whole shebang. Kind of like In Memoriam by Shockz ( Nice story, try reading it if you haven't). They have been mixed around and I'm going to add some new content in the process. Then everything was put back together in a totally different way. Not to the extent of In Memoriam, of course, but still. Does that help?

Azonic George: Ironically enough, I'd first discovered To Aru Majutsu no Index through a story on this site that referenced it. I checked it up and got hooked on the whole story. Coincidentally, it was the series that introduced me to Light Novels.

Orcodon: I like how this Touma is turning out, too. I'm really hoping I can keep this up and not screw anything up. Touma's personality before his memory destruction fascinated me, so I decided to explore his characterization more with my own personal touch.

Anonymous (Different name from the other unknown reviewer): If you want Touma's interactions with the Level 5's, then you can see how he bantered with Mikoto in Chapter 1. Also, if you want to see how he interacts with Sogiita Gunha, then read the one-shot I posted a while back, Typical Misfortunate Morning. Touma has met at least five of the Level 5's already (Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki, Kakine Teitoku, Mugino Shizuri, and Sogiita Gunha). I already mentioned him encountering SCHOOL and ITEM, of which Kakine and Mugino are respectively the leaders of, in Chapter 2. In NT Volume 7, Misaki mentioned knowing Touma in the past. Misaka…. just started challenging him to duels. That's just about it for her. Gunha met him, commented on their resemblance (You have to admit they are kind of similar), and asked to be his friendly rival. More elaborations will hopefully be made in the future.

Mas2009: Sorry if it might be too short, but I'm an amateur at writing. I have gained a true admiration for people like Gabriel Blessing or Kenchi618 who can produce chapters of long length and high quality. Hopefully, you will think this double chapter update will sate your hunger. This isn't really a new side of Touma. This is just my interpretation of how Kamijou Touma had been like before his memory destruction. He isn't really that lazy, just resigned to his misfortune.

But yeah, he really is dense considering romance. I checked on TV Tropes in the Wild Mass Guesses and it showed something that caught my eye. There was a possible interpretation on Touma's view of romance. He might be intentionally ignoring romance because he thinks that his misfortune will get in the way.

Shinnypichu88: Index landed on the ground of the alleyway next to Touma's dorm building. She wasn't injured because of her Walking Church, so it's all good. Heh, nice to see that you like the genderbent Aleister. Yeah, I don't really regret making Aleister a chick. I will not turn back on that. _Never_.

Alternate Rouge: Like I said, this had initially been a crack fic. I like how this more-serious version of the basic idea has turned out.

-End Review Answering Segment-

Chapter 3 Start!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma walked through School District 7, wondering which restaurant he should eat at. It was a free day where he didn't have any supplementary classes with Komoe-sensei, so Touma decided that eating lunch out in the fresh air for once. He blinked, hearing the sounds of a struggle occurring near him. Kamijou's eyes narrowed, thinking that there were once again delinquents causing trouble.

'_It seems like I'm going to have a chat with them again._' Touma sighed. '_And just when I was going to get lunch, too. Such misfortune._'

He moved into the direction of the sounds, finding that they were coming from just around the corner. Touma came around and saw a sight that made his eye twitch in annoyance. A blue-haired boy was being restrained by a female Judgment officer. He sighed in irritation before making up his mind, '_Might as well get this over with._'

"Yo, Aogami," Touma greeted with a casual wave of his right hand, despite the odd site of his technically-a-friend struggling against the insistent grip of the law enforcement. Aogami perked up, recognizing the voice of his friend from A Certain High School.

"Hey, Kami-yan, how's it going?" Pierce asked nervously, while finally being held in a rather painful locking technique.

Kamijou's stomach growled, and he said, "Nothing much, just going to get some lunch. Although, I have to ask, what did you do this time?"

Aogami gave a nervous chuckle. "Eh? What do you mean, Kami-ya-"

"He was harassing yet _another_ female student, Kamijou-san." The female Judgment officer interrupted casually, answering the spiky-haired boy's question.

Touma blinked lazily, sending a glance at the still-struggling form of his fellow Delta Force Member. He nodded in understanding. "Yeah, that just about sounds right."

"W-Wait, you're believing this oppressive officer over your friend of many years!? For shame, Kami-yan!" Aogami spluttered despairingly. Kamijou gave him a stare, before responding.

"You've already been accosted by Judgment fifty-three times this year, Aogami." Touma deadpanned. "Frankly, do you really think I'm taking your side at this point? Maybe in a fight, yeah, but this is just getting ridiculous."

"TRAITOR!" The blue-haired boy roared, renewing his struggles to get out of the Judgment officer's grip to try and attack Kamijou. The officer decided to start speaking while Aogami was still in her grip.

"How exactly do you deal with him at school, Kamijou-san?" The dark-haired girl questioned honestly, confused by Aogami's behavior. Kamijou shifted his gaze over to her before his eyes widened with recognition.

"Konori-san, is that you?" Touma questioned, now looking carefully at the bespectacled girl. The now-identified Konori Mii nodded, feeling a tad nervous under Kamijou's stare.

"Y-Yes, it's me." She said sheepishly, still remembering what had happened in their last encounter.

Back in her days as a Skill-Out, she had heard rumors about the incident that had become known as the 'Massacre of the Dragon', in which a large group of Skill-Outs had been torn apart by a single person, and developed interest on figuring out who the infamous 'Sleeping Dragon' was. Coincidentally, some of the more arrogant Skill-Outs had decided that the incident was simply a hoax made-up by an idiot looking for attention, and prepared to 'teach the little shit a lesson'.

Konori had tagged along, wanting to sate her curiosity and see the person's strength for herself. When she found out that it had been just a tired-looking boy who was her age, she had been surprised, to say the least of it. The Skill-Outs had questioned him, and when finding out that a younger boy had done it, they'd all laughed with disbelief while mercilessly mocking Kamijou.

What they had not known was that Kamijou Touma at thirteen-years-old had a nasty temper and an even _nastier_ punch.

The somewhat arrogant thugs had been downed in seconds, leaving Konori Mii to cower at Kamijou's anger. Thankfully, he'd let her go with a stern warning, but the encounter had left her shaken and with a deep-seeded wariness of the boy.

It was not long after that Konori Mii had left the Big Spider Skill-Out gang and raised the Level of her Clairvoyance from 2 to 3. She'd joined Judgment and had all-but-forgotten about Kamijou Touma and his terrifying power.

Until he was frequently found bailing his blonde friend –Tsuchimikado, was it?- out of Judgment for his dress code violations, of course.

"Wow, it's been a few years, huh?" The unknowing instigator of Konori's wariness mused. "It's kind of ironic that you joined Judgment."

Konori blushed with embarrassment at the comment, responded sheepishly with, "Yes, it has been. How have you been doing?"

Touma's stomach growled again, with more insistence. He gave a sheepish chuckle at the sound. "I'm hungry, and I also wanted to get a breath of fresh air. Want to come with me? I could always use someone nice to talk to over a cup of coffee."

The girl felt her cheeks go red at the unintentional compliment.

'_C'mon, is this how a Judgment officer is supposed to be acting?_' Konori criticized herself internally. She found that Kamijou was still waiting for an answer.

"I-I suppose a cup or two wouldn't hurt. First, let me deal with him." Konori said. She blinked at the trembling form of Aogami, whose hair had shadowed over his eyes. He snapped his head up before screaming,

"DAMNIT KAMI-YAN, IS THERE NO RESISTANCE TO THE KAMI-YAN DISEASE!? RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! I'M GOING TO KILL YOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" Aogami finally managed to break away from the gaping Judgment officer, lunging with incredible speed at Kamijou, who simply yawned.

When Aogami got close enough, Touma side-stepped the raging blue-haired boy and hooked his right foot around Aogami's ankle. He pulled it up, tripping him and delivering a quick chop to the back of Aogami's neck. The chop made the pierced high-schooler drop down unconscious, Kamijou himself unfettered by the attack.

"….Ummm…" Konori was not sure about what to say after seeing Touma mercilessly incapacitate one of his friends. Kamijou grabbed the unconscious boy by his collar, tossing him over to the still-befuddled girl. He grumbled, rubbing his empty stomach.

"I think it's about time to get some food." Touma murmured. He looked at the name of the street, brightening as there was a cheap restaurant nearby.

"Well, I hope Aogami doesn't cause any more trouble. Have a nice day, Konori-san." He said, turning away to walk to the food establishment.

'_Now it's time to get lunch!_' Kamijou rejoiced in his mind.

When Kamijou Touma disappear around the corner, Konori finally snapped out of her shock at the strange sequence of events before calling Judgment to pick up Aogami and keep him detained.

After the first thirty times that Aogami had broken out of his cell, they had decided to simply keep him in for an hour or two before releasing him again.

Konori Mii shook her head again to clear out the last few vestiges of shock. '_Well, that certainly was...interesting._'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Well, this certainly is ….. interesting." Touma commented under his breath, looking at the silver-haired nun across him in the restaurant eating at least twice her body weight in food.

He'd found her staring through the window of the restaurant, drooling at the delicious-looking food. Kamijou had taken pity, and decided to treat her to a meal. In response, the girl had thanked him profusely and then proceeded to order two of everything on the menu.

'_At least I can pay for everything with my increased stipend_.' The spiky-haired boy thought, wincing when he remembered the reason as to why it had been increased.

After the chaotic incident with the Kihara family, the Board of Directors became fearful of Kamijou and his abilities. In order to compensate him for the trouble he'd gone through, they'd increased Touma's stipend, raising it enough for him to reasonably splurge if he spent his money right.

Truthfully, while the Board of Directors called the extra money 'compensation', Kamijou just called it 'hush-money' to make sure he kept quiet about the fact that the Kihara family was just a troupe of mad scientists who had nothing in common except their blood-relation and nigh-religious obsession for science.

He was brought out of his reminiscing when he'd heard the smaller nun say something after finishing her meal. "Sorry, could you repeat that, please? I was thinking about something."

The girl pouted, opening her mouth to speak again. "I'd like to thank you for the meal, but I currently don't have any money with me. I apologize for imposing on your kindness, stranger-san."

Kamijou was momentarily surprised at the perfect Japanese flowing out of the European girl's mouth, before registering her words. He chuckled at the girl's kind words. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I'm sure anybody else would've done the same thing that I did, right, erm, what was your name again?"

Index had gained a shocked expression at his words, looking at the older boy for a sign of dishonesty. When she found none, the girl with perfect memory found herself bewildered at his actions. She remembered that he was asking for her name and, deciding that the spiky-haired boy was trustworthy for now, gave her name.

"My name is Index Librorum Prohibitorum, and no, not just anybody would have done the same thing as you." She stated, a tone of finality lacing her latter statement. He raised his eyebrow at her words.

"…Well then, Index," Doubt was heard in the misfortunate boy's words at the girl's name.

"Why, exactly, do you not have any money?" He decided to shift the subject, feeling uncomfortable from her words.

The nun shifted her expression to something resembling guilt, as if she had committed a crime, then shifting back to a poker face. "You see, I got separated from my guardian, and I never really carried any money. She always paid for my things."

Kamijou gave a nonchalant hum at her seemingly flawless statement.

"When were you separated? You should have stayed with her. Academy City's a huge place and you can get lost easily." He questioned, trying to get more details out of the girl.

She waved off the boy's words with a carefree attitude. Index reached into a hidden pocket in her habit, pulling out a pamphlet that Touma recognized and commented on. "Is that one of those maps that Academy City gives to tourists when they visit?"

She gave a sound of confirmation, stashing the guide away. Kamijou found that he'd already finished his meal and pulled himself up from the chair.

"How about we get some fresh air? We could walk and talk." The host of the Imagine Breaker offered.

She accepted gratefully, getting out the chair. They left the restaurant, choosing a random direction to walk in.

Touma already knew the entirety of Academy City like the back of his hand, having gained experience from his parkour practice on the taller buildings of the city. He stayed with the younger girl to help guide her to a place where she could get some rest from her possibly tiring day.

The unorthodox pair simply walked while Index marveled openly at the technological wonders of the city. She'd never freely admit it, but the silver-haired girl had 'eep'ed a bit when the cleaning robots brushed past her at a close proximity. Kamijou had grown amused from this and so decided to make a teasing comment on it.

That was how Touma found out that Index preferred to bite people when she was embarrassed.

It was also how Index found out that Kamijou Touma's skin had the consistency of indestructible steel.

The event had been rather enlightening for both of them.

Index was tearfully nursing her throbbing teeth, looking very much like a kitten that had been denied its food. Kamijou had only one thought as to the quirk that Index had shown.

'_If this was an anime, I'd probably be sweat-dropping right now_,' Touma thought, full of mirth. He did a double-take when he found that the sun had already set and the streets of Academy City were illuminated by various lights.

The high-schooler stopped, making Index wonder in confusion as to why he halted his pace. Her green eyes met his blue eyes, which were currently staring across the street at the figure. Her heart's pace sped up dramatically as she recognized the person standing in the middle of the street.

The woman with the strange clothing pinned her neutral gaze on Index, making the younger girl's body shake in fear. Kamijou's own gaze was set on the long sword at the woman's side before he noted that the streets were completely empty.

There was something wrong. Academy City's streets were _never_ empty, unless there was official intervention from the higher-ups or someone like Mental Out subconsciously leading people away. He could only deduce that the woman who was making Index trembling was the cause of this.

"Index," Kamijou said, snapping the addressed girl out of stupor.

"Y-Yes?" The girl stuttered.

"Is she making you scared?" Touma asked bluntly, making Index twitch before nodding reluctantly. She was too fearful to lie at that point. He pulled his hands out of his pockets while moving his fingers to make them ready to move.

"Do you want to go with her?" He asked again. Index bit her bottom lip nervously, shaking her head slowly. Kamijou closed his eyes and took a series of deep breaths.

'_Inhale, Exhale. Inhale, Exhale_.' The blue-eyed boy thought serenely, seeking to clear his mind of unnecessary thoughts in preparation for the oncoming fight.

Yes. Kamijou Touma knew when the general situation would degenerate into a fight. He didn't know who the woman was or why Index was scared of her. He didn't know how the two had a connection.

Frankly, he didn't care about any of those tiny details.

Touma opened his eyes after finishing the small set of breathing exercises, saying,

"Go."

Index blinked. Then her jaw dropped as she registered the nice boy's words. "What!?"

"You heard me, Index." He kept speaking with his eyes pinned on the still-unknown woman. "Go, you don't have to worry about me."

"B-But-" Index stuttered, staring at Kamijou as if he had grown a third arm out of his stomach.

"No buts." He interrupted, silencing the girl with a stern look. "Just go, I don't know what's going on, but I know you don't want to be around her."

Touma felt a slight bit of confusion when he saw the swordswoman wince at those words, but brushed them off.

Index was incredibly worried, and it showed clearly on her face. She finally capitulated with a resigned sigh. "…Fine, but please come back alive. I would become incredibly guilty if you died before I could repay you for feeding me."

He shot her a wide grin. "Wouldn't dream of it. Now you better run along now."

The white-robed nun nodded resolutely, moving down the street. She disappeared around the corner and Touma sighed tiredly.

He shifted a nervous gaze over the girl over at the other end of the street. "So, would you mind telling me what's going on?"

The woman tilted her head and spoke for the first time that evening. "I apologize, but I was assigned to capture the girl. She is very important, and I'd like for normal people to not get involved."

Touma raised an eyebrow at that statement.

"Well, I suppose I'm a bit mundane, considering I'm a normal Level 0. But that doesn't mean you can make her sad like that. I don't know why this is happening, but if you really think that you're helping her…" Kamijou clenched his fists while filling with determination.

"Then I'll have to destroy that messed up illusion of yours!" He finished, slipping into a battle-ready stance.

The woman narrowed her eyes. "… Very well then, it seems like this will take more drastic measures."

She got into a slight crouch, setting her hands on the long sword at her side.

The night was silent.

The swordswoman and Kamijou stared at each other, feeling the tense atmosphere growing by the second.

Their eyes mutually sharpened and they _moved_.

The battle had begun.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Story Notes: Phew, that took quite a bit of work. I hope I characterized everybody properly.

Konori Mii makes an appearance! She also has met Touma when he was younger, but it was a brief encounter. With her appearance, the Kami-yan disease has been shown for the first time.

Hopefully, everybody tolerates the thing about the Board of Directors giving Touma more money. That had been another split-second decision. Kanzaki makes her first appearance… although she isn't named.

Also, Index hurts her teeth biting Touma. Personally, that running gag in the original series kind of irritated me, so I decided to get rid of it by using OP!Touma's naturally powerful body. Index's Walking Church has _not_ been dispelled because it has not made contact with Imagine Breaker.

That's about it-Loopsey.


	4. A Certain Unexpected Twist

Pre-Chapter Notes: Something you should know: This is a double-chapter update, so check out Chapter 3 if you haven't already. More stuff is in the Author Notes after the chapter is over. One last thing: There is a huge plot twist in this chapter… well, another one added to the considerable amount I have put in this story.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kanzaki Kaori was currently down on one knee, bruised and fatigued. She was using her nodachi, Shichiten Shichitou, as make-shift crutch to keep herself from collapsing after the destructive battle she had just experienced.

Normally, as a Saint, she had a body that could go beyond normal human limitations. Comparing a normal magician to herself is like comparing a grenade to a nuclear bomb. There _was_ a reason that there were only twenty of the monstrous beings in the world that are known as Saints.

But she had to admit that the being in front of her had an even more monstrous disposition than herself, or possibly any other Saint. Before the battle, it –or rather, _he_- had stated that he was simply a 'normal Level 0', as the powerless people in the scientific city she had entered were labeled. Kanzaki had, at first, believed the statement that the high school boy had given.

He had then proceeded to dodge, deflect, or outright ignore every attack she initiated and started getting closer at a considerably significant speed (for a normal human, that is). After she blocked his first few attacks, the entity (she had started calling him that because there was absolutely _no way_ a normal human had skin that was durable enough to deflect Nanasen) started to increase the strength and speed behind his forward advance.

As they continued to exchange blows, Kanzaki had found that he was slowly surpassing her in terms of physical ability. She began to retaliate by using more and more of the power she had started holding back at the beginning of the battle. The next few minutes were a blur with her lashing out by slashing her still-sheathed blade at him and the entity launching inhumanely powerful punches and kicks at her.

At some point in the battle of wills and power, they had started moving up the side of the building while looking like blurs to the normal human eye. Little did they know, every time their superhuman attacks clashed, the environment around them was being destroyed. When they had gotten back on the ground, the entity had started tearing out large portions of the concrete road and chucking them at her. That had been avoided easily due to her steel wires slicing them to numerous harmless pieces.

As all of this was going, Kanzaki was trying to figure out how it was that a 'normal Level 0' was matching her, blow for blow, and still manage to continually managed to make her increase her power against him. They had started a speedy chase with her trying to find a larger space in which she could perform some of her more destructive techniques. Nanasen was simply being deflected off of her opponent's skin, so Kanzaki had to resort to more drastic measures to damage him.

Even when she had started sprinting at speeds surpassing the sound barrier, he did something that befuddled Kanzaki and made her even more confused during that battle than she already had been. When she had sped up, he managed to _keep up_. When they had finally arrived at a suitable street, she started setting up the Red Lotus Flames technique.

She had just wanted Index to not die from the increased strain that the grimoires had on her mind, but he just_ would not listen_. Kanzaki wanted to start yelling childishly and tear her hair out at the boy's stubborn persistence.

She tried to give the boy one last chance before triggering the incendiary spell. However, he begun to shock her again. Kanzaki had walked away, feeling guilty over his apparent 'death' before a sentence rang out in the night from Kamijou. He had emerged from the flames, and the only damage was his slightly singed and cut clothing. Surprisingly enough, not even a hint of ash or debris was stuck to his clothes as he had calmly walked out of the rampant fire.

His strange right hand –every time she so much as looked anywhere near, or directly at it, the limb gave her a chill up her spine and a feeling as if she was seeing a strange alien thing that was not meant to exist- had somehow dispelled the flame while a sound of glass being broken rang out in the silent night. His attitude was different from before the explosion, she could tell that much. Before, he had seemed like he was holding back power (How much power, though, she didn't know.). Now…

He looked like he was about to cut loose.

Kanzaki could not remember much after that. What little she could remember was enough for her to deduce the details. His form had flickered briefly, as if like television static, before he had completely vanished.

Then she felt PAIN.

Sheer, unimaginable PAIN. She felt as if her body was being repeatedly smashed with steel girders that were shaped like fists or legs. Kanzaki had experienced pain before; it had been an unspoken requirement in the Amakusa training regime to have a certain threshold to withstand pain. But this was something of an entirely different caliber.

Kanzaki could remember that she was flung into both roads and buildings. After finally being smashed into the streets by a last colossal blow, she had been able to start a small recovery spell that would at least leave her mind clear enough to think and her limbs able enough to move. However, the pain stubbornly stayed with her body.

Kanzaki Kaori, in one of the few rare moments in her eighteen years of life, had lost a battle.

But she could not accept that. Could not accept that she had lost.

_Would_ not accept Index's death just because some kind of _thing_ that was incredibly strong came in her path.

Feeling herself being filled with resolve to continue and worry for Index, she slowly reached for her ever-faithful blade and commanded her body to stand up.

Stand up. Fight. Continue. She had to get up! Had to save Index!

STAND. UP.

Kanzaki had slowly wrenched herself out of the crater she had been lodged in and brought herself to one knee. The Saint tried to raise her other leg, but the pain was too much and she collapsed to one knee.

That was how she had gotten into her current condition while facing the spiky-haired boy who, disturbingly enough, was still fresh and uninjured, if one ignored the damaged clothing. He was looking down at her (not in the figurative sense, of course, but still) with a pained wince, as if he could feel the pain that wracked her body.

"You know, this wouldn't have happened if you had just listened to me." Kamijou sighed, rubbing his head sheepishly. Kanzaki didn't know why he still looked like this was an awkward situation that he was used to.

"I-I have to save Inde-," was as much she could get out of her mouth before she coughed up a small amount of blood from the internal damage that Kamijou had dealt.

"O-Oi, hold on!" Kamijou spluttered as Kanzaki's eyes drooped before pitching forward in a dead faint. He swiftly moved forward to her body and took her pulse. Kamijou gave a sigh of relief as he felt that there was still a steady heartbeat. He scooped up Kanzaki's bruised, unconscious body in his arms before making his way towards the hospital. Miraculously enough, she still held on to her sword, saving him the trouble.

The air around the two super-humans became denser as something unknown, something undeniably _alien_ occupied the empty streets. Kamijou momentarily stopped mid-step, while craning his neck as he felt Its presence make Itself known from behind the Imagine Breaker.

The Invisible Thing could not influence the outside world in any way because of the seal. However, It _could_ still hold communication with Its host.

Its alien presence had made Kanzaki subconsciously curl up while she shuddered in fear, despite being unconscious. The boy who was effortlessly carrying her noticed this, narrowing his eyes. Its host groaned in irritation before addressing It.

"What do you want now?" Kamijou asked blandly, with half-lidded eyes. He already had enough irritation as it was with the incapacitated Saint in his arms. Now, he had to deal with that _thing_. He had nothing against It, but It always left him with something resembling a migraine after their conversations, due to Its alien nature

…

"Bullshit, you never just 'check up' on me." Kamijou responded, continuing.

"Also, the last time I checked, you could barely understand human speech, let alone common-place manners and etiquette. You were never meant to be here in the first place." He said in a seemingly rude tone. However, if anybody present knew who (or more precisely, _what_) he was talking to, they would have said the same thing.

It was never meant to exist on that flimsy plane of existence.

It was meant to be higher.

But It had taken interest in Its current 'host', who had more power than It. This made It produce, for the first time in Its existence, shock and curiosity. So, It decided to 'observe', as the substance beings called the 'activity', the 'boy'.

How It had been locked away by the Imagine Breaker was an entirely different matter.

…**..?**

"What do you mean, why am I taking her to the hospital?" the misfortunate high school student questioned incredulously, wondering where exactly It learned about hospitals, much less injuries. The last time Kamijou had checked, It knew little to nothing on the 'substance beings' (as It had called the humans) and their customs.

…**.**

"Just because she tried to blow me up doesn't mean I can't take her to the hospital." Kamijou pointed out with a logic that was completely abnormal to any sane person.

Kamijou was most definitely not 'sane', in the traditional sense. If he was, he would not have gained the power that he had up to that point in his life.

…**..**

"'Chosen of WHITE'? You mean her?" Kamijou blinked, looking down at the bruised girl in his arms. He could feel that Its eyes (or whatever passed for ocular organs to the incomprehensible being in his right arm) lock onto the unconscious swordswoman.

…

"Wait a minute. I need a little time to think." Kamijou requested.

His mind worked, wondering what It meant by 'WHITE'. He remembered Tsuchimikado talking about people that were born with blessed bodies who were dubbed as Saints. He could feel an abnormal aura that was, dare he say it, holy rolling off Kanzaki. The final pieces in his mind clicked as Kamijou finally realized what 'WHITE' was.

'_Well, I guess that explains why Christianity exists_,' Kamijou thought, as he finally obtained an important revelation about Christianity. The identity of 'WHITE' was rather easy, when presented with the facts. He knew that each and every being with a disposition similar to It had a Symbol defining their existence.

And he now knew that WHITE's Symbol was a cross.

…**.**

"Well, I'm fine; you of all things should know that it takes a lot to even put a scratch on me. If that's all, is there anything else you need?" Kamijou inquired, waiting for an answer.

Silence was the only response.

The air seemingly 'loosened' from the pressure that Its existence had exerted on reality as It retreated to the depths of Its seal. Kamijou exhaled through his nostrils and went on his way to bring Kanzaki to the hospital.

**Between The Lines**

In a distance, Fukiyose Seiri stared in complete shock, watching Kamijou from her hiding spot as he walked away with an incapacitated woman in his arms. She had just finished the assignment that Komoe-sensei had given the class and decided to go out for a walk to get some fresh air before going to sleep. Fukiyose had not expected to see her classmate, Kamijou Touma, get blown up by a strangely-dressed woman.

She was horrified at the possibility that he might have died. Fukiyose may not agree with his lackadaisical approach to life, but that didn't mean he had to go and get himself _killed_. Her fears were soon dispelled when, shockingly enough, Kamijou walked out of the flames completely unscathed.

Fukiyose watched when he disappeared from where he was standing. Suddenly, the female was being smashed all over her body with what most certainly looked like painful blows. The blows were fast enough to release air pressure as they struck the strangely-dressed woman's body.

Soon after, she was being flung around and smashed against buildings, streetlights, and the ground by a blurring figure, still being chucked around like a rag doll. Finally, the blows stopped, only for one that completely dwarfed the previous blows to smash her into the ground. Then Kamijou appeared again, and Fukiyose realized that he had been the source of the devastating damage.

'_But he's a Level 0_,' Fukiyose thought incredulously, her mind in a jumble of confusion. '_He doesn't have a power. Unless_….'

She realized that Kamijou had done that through sheer physical strength and speed.

'_But how?_' Fukiyose wondered, feeling clueless about the situation. '_How did he get so strong?_'

Kamijou had always lamented his 'misfortune', which never failed to infuriate her. He never got any results in the System Scan, despite the extra esper-related courses he took after being punished for his antics with the other two idiots that formed the Delta Trio. Kamijou had never shown even a single portion of the strength he had used against the woman who had tried to incinerate him.

As the woman had torn herself out of the crater and gotten onto one knee, Kamijou said something she didn't listen to because of her mind still being muddled with shock. Fukiyose watched the woman cough up blood and then fall unconscious. After Kamijou picked up the woman (presumably to take her to a hospital, Fukiyose hoped), she felt something.

Something was in the area.

It had no definite form, but rather It was a presence that made Itself known through the air getting heavier. She felt inadequate, she felt _small_, compared to Its presence. However, her shock rejuvenated itself and increased as Kamijou stood his ground, and address It, as if It were nothing more than an irritating nuisance. Then she heard a thrum and vibration of the air as she realized that It had spoken.

After Its presence had disappeared, she wondered what It was, what Kamijou's connection to It was, and wondered just what was going on. Fukiyose could only deduce that 'Chosen of WHITE' referred to the incapacitated woman in Kamijou's arms. And yet, she still wondered what was going on.

"Kamijou, what is going on?" Fukiyose asked, feeling absolutely helpless. She had wanted to scream, yell, do _something_, as It had been present. But she could do nothing compared to Its almighty presence.

Her legs suddenly failed her, and Fukiyose collapsed on her knees. She began shuddering, still feeling a phantom remnant of Its presence. Her mind had been trapped and filled with fear from It. But she knew one horrifying fact about It.

The presence from It had not been deliberate. It had caused that by simply _existing_.

Fukiyose absolutely _refused_ to consider what would happen if It decided to deliberately cause fear. But Kamijou had not been affected by the presence at all, as if he'd been used to Its presence. And if he was….

Fukiyose decided that when she could work up the nerve, she would apologize for not believing Kamijou when he often commented that he had angered some higher being to get that much misfortune. She also realized, with awkward guilt, that she also needed to apologize for saying that Kamijou often did nothing. If he faced that _thing_ down with no fear, he obviously had _something_ worth note.

'_I have a lot of stuff that I need to talk him about_,' She winced, groaning in a depressed tone. _That_ particular conversation will be nerve-wracking, to say the least.

Fukiyose just sighed and decided to drop the subject for now, feeling physically and mentally exhausted from that night's events.

"So much for a breath of fresh air," Fukiyose muttered dejectedly as she walked back to her dorm to get some sleep.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Story Notes: I suppose none of you were expecting that last part, were you? By the way, don't expect any more double-chapter updates. This was absolutely exhausting to create and edit. Hopefully, everybody liked it, though.

Please leave some reviews!

Signing off for now-Loopsey


	5. Continued Developments

Pre-Chapter Notes: Man, it took a while to get this chapter out. I ended up changing a few things here and there while I was typing this out. Ah well, time to answer some reviews.

Review Answering Segment:

Azonic George: Sorry about the fight scene, but that was the way I originally planned it. I wanted to bring other character POV's in this story besides Touma. I've already brought in Stiyl, Kanzaki, and even Fukiyose for their thoughts. Also, about updates…..my story updates will be completely all over the place. I have honestly just been writing up the chapters as I go and releasing them when I can. There is a huge chance that updates will slow after the next few chapters.

Proxy4818: Oh, I do plan to continue this story. It's just a matter of how much I screw with the plot because AU and also erratic updates. About Touma beating down a Saint, I can guarantee that he will fight Acqua of the Back. And the battle will be absolutely **EPIC**… hopefully.

Anon Reviewer: Actually, Level Upper was one of the only things I was going to reference. As for the idiot Level Upper users attacking the 'Sleeping Dragon',…. Congratulations, you have given me the setting I needed to write the first official fight scene in this story. It turns out that the Level Upper Arc takes place around roughly the same time as the Index Arc, so I decided to implement it.

Touma's running gag about always visiting his former enemies in the hospital was actually one of my earliest changes I would bring into the AU. I honestly think you might've read my mind on that part. This chapter is the start of the running gag, with Kanzaki Kaori being first.

Mas2009: I will guarantee that Touma _will not_ lose his memories. As for the pairings, the Kami-yan Disease of this AU story has now been featured in this chapter as well with Kanzaki.

Okay, I've hopefully answered any relevant questions that were in the reviews. Quick warning though, you might hate me for what I did involving the Imagine Breaker in this chapter. Or you will worship me for what happens between Kanzaki and Touma. Either way, I hope you all continue to follow my story.

Time to get the ball rolling!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma was sitting quietly in the waiting room of Heaven Canceller's hospital, wondering when the frog-faced doctor would finish treating the woman he had defeated yesterday. He'd left her in the care of the doctor, knowing that he would be able to treat the mystery woman's injuries

Touma's head came up as he heard distant footsteps approaching the door that led into the waiting room. He sighed tiredly, now remembering his highly refined super-human senses. Two minutes later, the door opened to reveal a short man with a face resembling that of a frog. Despite his silly appearance, the man was possibly the greatest doctor inside Academy City.

There was a reason he was dubbed the Heaven Canceller. Even if the patient seemed like they had already crossed to the after-life, Heaven Canceller would perform a medical miracle to revive the patient. Because of this and his benevolent nature, the frog-faced doctor was one of the few people that Kamijou Touma trusted with his life.

"Is she alright?" Touma asked, visible concern in his voice. Heaven Canceller gave a reassuring smile that was meant to put the teenager at ease.

"She's just fine." The doctor stated, dispelling Kamijou's concerns.

"But…." He trailed off with a grimace, remembering the treatment he had to give.

"But what?" Touma inquired nervously, wanting to know Kanzaki's condition. Heaven Canceller beckoned him with a finger, having the spiky-haired boy lean forward to whisper in his ear. He was _not_ going to enjoy telling Kamijou the 'side-effect' of the treatment.

Kanzaki Kaori was a Saint, having a body similar to the Son of God. This included enhanced physical qualities, of which she also boasted a high recovery rate and remarkable poison-resistance. The resistance also extended to pharmaceutical drugs, which held a similar disposition to poisons. Due to this, Heaven Canceller would simply have to give her anesthesia and have the natural energies of Kanzaki's Saint body heal the damages that Kamijou had reluctantly inflicted.

When the frog-faced doctor had applied the anesthetics, Kanzaki's body had destroyed them before they could take effect. The second time with double the anesthetics yielded the same results.

Finally, Heaven Canceller thought '_Screw it_.' and decided to give her enough anesthetics to incapacitate an entire horde of angry elephants. It had the desired results, but the side-effect was _unique_ to say the least.

Touma blinked before chuckling, having thought that he had misheard the kindly doctor. "Hehehe, that's a nice one, doc."

Heaven Canceller shook his head, his expression still being grim.

"I'm not joking, Kamijou-kun, that really _is_ what happened to her." He broke the news bluntly. The aforementioned boy's relaxed expression turned neutral at those words before suddenly grabbing the doctor by the lapels of his coat and holding the older man close.

Touma's expression turned crazed, hissing out his next words,"She's _what?_"

Heaven Canceller was unfazed by his facial expression, having grown used to Kamijou's behavior from his younger and more impulsively violent years in Academy City. "Your hearing is not failing you, Kamijou-kun."

The blue-eyed boy let go reluctantly, his body twitching violently. He took a long, shuddering breath, trying to sort his jumbled mind back into order after the shocking news finally took root. Touma looked at the frog-faced doctor, asking one more time to make sure he wasn't in some demented illusion.

"You're telling me that you gave her so much anesthesia, she got _high_!?" Kamijou questioned, incredulous at the 'side-effect'. Heaven Canceller gave a nod, confirming the boy's dreaded suspicions.

"She had to be put under in order for the recovery process to take effect." Heaven Canceller elaborated, continuing his explanation.

"When she wakes up, she will still be intoxicated from the medicine. I trust that you will look after her….while I go on my lunch break." The frog-faced doctor finished, having said the last part of his statement with a straight face.

Touma's twitching grew more prominent at those words. The doctor walked past him, shrugging off his white coat and folding it up to put it in his office. Heaven Canceller paused for a moment, turning back to give the misfortunate boy a comforting pat on the shoulder, handed him a piece of paper that he accepted numbly, and said "Here's the room number and her name. Good luck."

Kamijou grimaced, exhaling a long breath at the circumstances he was presented. He glanced at the paper, looking over the kanji of the previously-unknown woman's name. "Kanzaki Kaori, huh…"

He recalled something, and voiced a question to Heaven Canceller about where he stashed the now-identified Kanzaki's long sword and steel wires.

The frog-faced doctor didn't turn back, calling "In the broom closet!" over his shoulder.

Touma nodded resolutely, beginning his trek to what might be his death-by-drugged-holy-person.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma gave an audible gulp as he stood in front of the room that Kanzaki resided in. His fingers were twitching from how nervous he was, and there were beads of sweat running down his temple. Introducing himself to her would be an awkward affair, considering that he smashed her into the ground several times.

He squared his shoulders, reaching his hand out to grab the handle of the door. He inhaled sharply, put on a shaky smile, and pulled the door open slowly. The boy walked in slowly, attempting to stay relaxed despite his instincts blaring at him to get out of there.

"O-ha-yo~, Ka-mi-jou-kuuuuuuuuuun~!" Kanzaki Kaori singsonged happily to the shocked boy, wearing an extremely dopy-looking smile on her face. The addressed teenager gawked blankly for a moment and asked a question that popped up.

"How do you know my name? I don't recall telling you what it was." Touma asked, feeling completely disturbed, fearful, and downright _confused_ at the girl's strange behavior. He had expected strange and erratic behavior, but hearing about it was a completely different matter from seeing the spectacle itself.

Kanzaki's smile somehow grew even wider upon hearing the spiky-haired (hair that looked so spiky, yet smooth she wanted to run her hands through it) boy speak for the first time since entering the room.

"Oh, Doctor Frog Face told me." She informed Kamijou, her eyes closed from the width of her smile. Meanwhile, the boy himself was extracting amusement from the nickname that Heaven Canceller had now been dubbed.

'_So I'm not the only one who sees him as a frog face_.' Touma thought with unending mirth.

"So, what's a guy like you doing in a place like this?" Kanzaki asked cheerfully. Kamijou realized he had still been standing, and moved to seat himself while running a hand through his hair sheepishly. "Well, I just wanted to make sure you were alright after I-"

"Mashed me against a wall and let me have it over and over again? Pounded me so hard into the ground that I couldn't take it? Dominated me?" Kanzaki grinned perversely, knowing that the words she was speaking could be interpreted in more ways than one. Touma's face turned more and more red with each word flowing out of the beautiful girl's mouth. "Umm, yeah, I guess you could say that."

"Heeee~," Kanzaki sounded, a devious expression on her face.

"Well, you came all this way to visit little old me, so I might as well show some courtesy." She finished slyly, her tone making Touma's instincts blare '_DANGER! DANGER! GET THE HELL OUT OF DODGE NOW!_' repeatedly in his head.

Kanzaki _lunged_, taking a seat on Kamijou's lap while snaking her arms around his decently-muscled torso. She nuzzled her head into his chest with a satisfied humming sound. Touma was unashamedly gaping at the intoxicated girl's actions.

"K-Kanzaki-san?" He asked feebly, not wanting to move or he might become acquainted with some very _interesting_ parts of the common female anatomy. She ignored him, still making herself comfortable in Touma's lap. He repeated his question, to which Kanzaki finally responded with,

"Kaori." The spiky-haired boy blinked, before asking her to repeat what she said. Kanzaki raised her head up, looking at him with an admittedly adorable pout. "Call me Kaori."

"Eh?" Touma gaped. She reiterated each word with a jab to his chest. "Call. Me. Kaori."

"B-But, Kanzaki-san…" Kamijou spluttered at her spontaneous behavior, freezing as her face moved dangerously close to his. There was also her mature body, which was only wearing a thin hospital gown, pressing up to him adding even more to the 'dangerous' situation. She moved her lips to his ear, whispering sensually,"Ka-o-ri."

Touma was getting light-headed from the anesthetized girl pressing herself up against him and her hot breath on his sensitive ear. The last time he'd been in a situation like this, he'd been caught in a violent conflict between ITEM and SCHOOL. He would have no trouble dispatching both groups in a matter of seconds, but there would be the issue of dealing with the collateral damage from when Kamijou actually cut loose. He shook his head, trying not to fall to the temptation of the girl in his lap.

Although, her body felt rather ni-

'_NO! Bad thoughts, Touma, bad thoughts_!' He thought, doing his level best to shunt the inappropriate thoughts of his head.

Then an idea came to him.

It was crazy. It was stupid. It was illogical. But of course, he was Kamijou Touma. He was not very well known for making logical decisions.

He grabbed Kanzaki by her shoulders fiercely, inciting a surprised, yet pleased yelp from the female Saint. The host of the Imagine Breaker pushed her down, straddling her waist to make sure she wouldn't get up. For extra measure, he'd grabbed her wrists and raised them above her head to make sure that they didn't try anything that might make Touma lose control.

The end result of his actions had both teenagers sprawled out on the floor of the hospital room in an extremely compromising position.

It was at precisely that moment that Stiyl Magnus walked into the room, freezing when he saw the two of them. Touma had only one thought in his head when he saw the frozen and gaping fire magician, whose face was quickly becoming as red as his hair.

'_Such misfortune_.'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

After Kanzaki had grown tired and fallen asleep after committing her exuberant actions, the fire magician and nullifier moved into the hallway to talk. Touma finally managed to bumble his way through excuses as to why he was on top of Kanzaki.

"She's _what_?" Stiyl asked, feeling completely baffled by Kamijou's unorthodox explanation. He knew from the boy's profile that he got plunged into a significant number of strange situations almost daily, but this was just getting ridiculous. It was shocking enough when he and Alyssa Crowley had watched the fight between the Saint and living anomaly with the latter coming out as the victor.

"I had the same reaction, too." Touma pointed out with an exasperated sigh. His mood shifted into a more serious tone and it showed with his tensed body.

"I think now is the time to say why you are in Academy City." The fire magician locked up at those words from the paranoid, but correct boy.

"You have a connection with that Index girl." The statement had not been a guess. In Touma's eyes, the circumstances were just too suspicious to be a coincidence. Whatever was going on with the silver-haired nun was serious enough for a Saint, which could be regarded as the magical equivalent of a nuke, to be sent after her.

Stiyl contemplated all the options he had and which words he should say. Then he locked eyes with Kamijou and wondered why the hell he was thinking of lying to someone who could thoroughly kick the ass of a Saint without breaking a sweat. He sighed, deciding to give the full explanation about Index's situation.

And so he did, leaving out no details.

Needless to say, Kamijou Touma was _not_ amused.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

After hearing the explanation from Stiyl about Index, Touma was walking towards his dorm while contemplating the information he'd just been given. He tilted his head as he heard the conversations from fellow Level 0's, hearing them speak of something called 'Level Upper.'

Kamijou never paid much attention to rumors, considering he'd been the unintentional instigator of roughly half of them. The boy had already held the epithet of the 'Sleeping Dragon of District 7', and didn't want to think about adding any more titles anytime soon. Certainly not, when he started hearing about the 'Level 0 that could nullify anything'.

Touma stopped in the middle of the street, his dormitory directly to his right. He squared his shoulder, calling out in an even tone.

"Alright, whoever you guys are, come out now."

Several older looking thugs and delinquents began pouring out of the alleyways in response to the esper-nullifying boy's words. They all had similar sneers of arrogance and hatred on their faces, the emotions obviously aimed at Kamijou. One stepped out of the crowd, his head held high as if Touma was dirt under his feet.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" The thug started mockingly. Kamijou tilted his head lazily.

"If it isn't the little shithead. Been a while, hasn't it?" He sent a look of disgust at the spiky-haired boy.

"Erm…. who are you?" Touma asked confusedly, wondering who all the people gathered around him were.

The atmosphere, which used to seem threatening and dark a few seconds ago, had been dispelled in seconds at Kamijou's carefree words. Some of the delinquents stumbled in shock, while others' jaws dropped at the shameless audacity of the innocent question. The older thug's eye twitched wildly.

"YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER WHO WE ARE!? WHAT THE HELL!?" The angered man roared at the unfazed Kamijou. "ALL OF US TEAMED UP AND SWORE REVENGE AGAINST YOU AFTER YOU BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF US!"

"I did that?" Touma was honestly bewildered by their words. Then he remembered seeing some of these people in the Skill-Out gangs that had formerly taken up residence in District 7.

Before he threw them out, of course.

"YES YOU DID!" The man shouted, having become even more angered from the boy's question. Everybody else in the streets had also been ticked off from Touma's casual attitude. The thug stopped, an ugly smirk rising on his face.

"Hmph, well, it doesn't matter now that we've increased our powers with Level Upper. Before, we were just pathetic Level 0's." He spread his arms out, gesturing to himself and the other delinquents.

"Now, all of us are Level 2's with even a few 3's here and there, so we can finally beat the shit of you!" Those words raised vulgar shouts of agreement and excitement among the bloodthirsty crowd. One of Touma's eyebrows rose at the words and he crossed his arms.

"You know, just because you got stronger doesn't mean that I got weaker. All of you would probably still lose like the last time, even if you all attacked at once." He challenged with unreserved confidence.

Something inside the thug's head snapped at those words. He roared and blasted a decently sized cluster of green energy at the unconcerned Kamijou. In response, he unfolded his arms and waved his right hand at the attack lazily. It disappeared upon contact with the limb, a sound of broken glass ringing out.

Touma kicked off the ground, lightly smashing his left fist into the bewildered esper's abdomen. The man coughed and nearly doubled over at the strong blow before Kamijou grabbed his head and burrowed it into the ground. The leader twitched and slumped unconscious upon contact with the concrete. Touma's instincts tingled and he performed a roll to the left to avoid the fireball that crashed into the ground where he was standing moments ago.

Kamijou launched himself off the ground, maneuvering himself in mid-air. He kicked off the air, using enough force to propel himself at the pyrokineticist who had attacked him. Touma struck his face with a drop-kick, downing the Skill-Out. He hopped off the unconscious man's face in a back flip before landing in a battle-ready stance.

One of the few Level 3's moved forward and threw a sloppy punch at him, making Touma slide past with a tilt of the head. His eyes widened when a concentrated pulse of air came out of the delinquent's forearm. The spiky-haired bent his upper body back at a ninety-degree angle, barely avoiding the violent winds while surprising the aerokineticist. Kamijou snapped back up and shoved the thug away, who flew through the air like a rag doll. A distant thud was heard from where the esper had landed from the violent push.

Touma felt the ground under him rumble and moved away as three spikes of concrete blasted their way out of the street. Having missed their intended target, the fragments smashed against each other violently, sending gravel and dust everywhere. Kamijou continued to dance around the recurring spikes which kept jutting out of the ground. He flitted his eyes from person to person, trying to find out which Skill-Out was causing the geokinetic movements.

Touma's blue eyes locked to one of the larger thugs who had his hands plunged into the ground while sweating profusely in concentration. Realizing that the spiky-haired boy found out who was causing the attacks, seven of the large thug's nearby comrades lunged forward, wanting to buy some time for the esper to strike Kamijou with the spikes.

The dark-haired boy snapped his arms to the side and grabbed the nearest Skill-Out, effortlessly lifting him off his feet. Touma chucked him up in the air and wrapped his hands around the ankles of the airborne delinquent, swinging him like a demented baseball bat. The man being used as a living weapon screamed in a high pitch, stopping when he collided with three of the assaulters. The crash caused all four to land in a sloppy pile of pained groans and twitching limbs as Kamijou started up a steady pace to reach the geokineticist.

A sharp gleam appeared in the unstoppable boy's eyes as he thought up his next move. He stopped and raised his right hand into the air. He bunched it into a fist and let it descend into the ground, causing a seismic quake that was felt throughout the entire city block. The strike had shattered the ground under everybody's feet as it created a large crater with intricate spider-web cracks spilling out everywhere.

The sudden destruction caused all of the delinquents to stumble, including the active esper whose concentration had been jolted by the ridiculously large blow. Touma moved up on one of the stalagmites that had emerged from his punch and proceeded to hop from rock to rock with blurring speed. He delivered quick, incapacitating back hands to any of the disoriented Skill-Outs that he passed by.

Kamijou made a large jump off the last stone, soaring through midair and delivering a roundhouse kick to one of the misfortunate Skill-Outs who had tried to run away. The kick struck the runner in his temple, instantly knocking him out while Kamijou landed on the ground. Everybody who wasn't unconscious or in serious pain was paralyzed with fear after watching the actions that Touma had casually performed.

As the boy who downed all the violent Skill-Outs got up and casually dusted himself off, he cast a quick once-over to all of the quivering thugs. They had lost their idiotic bravado after seeing their intended target down their fellow revenge-seeking comrades with terrifying ease.

Kamijou kept a straight face and only said one word.

"Boo."

That one word was all it took for everybody who was still capable of moving to snap under the pressure. They all gave wild, high-pitched screams of terror while scrambling off in different directions. They didn't give a damn about where they were going as it was far away from that insane _monster_.

Touma gave a slight chuckle, not feeling the least bit guilty over possibly traumatizing the older men. He sobered as he remembered the collateral damage and still bodies. Kamijou knew that they weren't dead, but seeing no movement was still disturbing.

He moved over the nearest knocked out thug, patting him down to find a cell phone to call Judgment. Touma was _not_ going to waste his cell phone minutes on people who were deliberately going to deliver a brutal, no-holds barred beat-down on his person, which would leave him absolutely humiliated and downtrodden after the loss. Touma already had enough of the irritating Skill-Outs when they interrupted his sleep with that party. He found the phone and pulled it out to dial the number.

After the call connected with a Judgment officer speaking, Touma explained the situation and mentioned the Level Upper. After finding out who the person calling was and his explanation, the enforcer quickly had a team of armed officers sent out along with ambulances to pick up the injured delinquents.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

When Judgment got there, all they found were the groaning bodies of the thugs. There was a cell phone lying on the ground which had a recent call to the local Judgment office, but everybody knew who called.

Kamijou Touma was somewhat infamous among the authorities of Academy City, both for his tremendous strength and strange ability. Several searches had been committed about Touma in various databases throughout Judgment and even Anti-Skill, which yielded one common result.

Kamijou Touma had no AIM field.

When this had been found out after the first search, several of the more computer-savvy members in Judgment hacked deeper into the enigmatic maze of Academy City's data bases to find the answer to the vexing dilemma. Everybody absolutely _knew_ that he had some type of ability that nullified esper powers, but they weren't sure how Touma was statistically the Weakest Esper in Academy City when he could smash buildings to pieces with his bare hands. They'd seen the security footage of his more ridiculous feats of power, and found it hard to believe that he'd done that without using some type of obscure ability that held just as much power as Accelerator's vector manipulation.

One of the higher ranking officers in Anti-Skill, Yomikawa Aiho, knew Kamijou from when he first entered Academy City at the young age of seven and had sometimes accompanied Tsukuyomi Komoe to supervise the boy. She had always felt a twinge of sympathy for the seven-year-old boy because he had been alone after arriving in Academy City.

Aiho had felt that there was something going on behind Kamijou, but had no idea that he could nullify other esper's attacks until a stray plasma ball had almost hit him. He'd just stood there and the ball disappeared within five feet of him. All she could gather was the strange sound of shattering glass that accompanied the dissipation of plasma.

This information had been no help in trying to find out more about Kamijou Touma, but Judgment, and later on, Anti-Skill persisted. They wanted to recruit the teenager into any one of the law-enforcing departments, knowing that an ability nullifier would be a great boost to their morals and cause. Alas, there had been no luck so far because it seemed like Touma always disappeared as quickly as he showed up on their proverbial recruit radars.

But this did not deter them.

Judgment and Anti-Skill _would_ keep trying to recruit him. One general consensus could be made among every officer in the police forces of Academy City.

Kamijou Touma's potential was too tremendous to be wasted.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Academy City was a very large place that was divided into many different districts. One district in particular was School District 11. Despite the name, it was devoid of any type of educational institute and was mostly used for transferring supplies in and out of the city.

There was the minor problem of getting rid of the security, but Touma had managed to disable all of the security technology and 'convince' the workers to leave with _that_ ability. While he was reluctant to use it in battle, it was convenient for getting people to clear out in case a fight occurred.

The much-sought-after nullifier himself was waiting.

Waiting for Index to arrive.

Waiting to set things right.

He had sensed her looming in District 11 and had promptly made his way there. Once he came a few scant feet from her location, he stopped and simply stared at the spot where Index had hidden herself after hearing him approach.

Kamijou Touma wanted to help Index Librorum Prohibitorum. He already knew the solution to her dilemma, and he'd be _damned_ if he didn't try to help her at least once.

Index had suffered greatly due to the eldritch knowledge she held. She'd been chained down by sadness and resignation.

Just like him before he obtained the Imagine Breaker.

Kamijou Touma could not, _would not_, let her suffer any longer.

His head slowly moved up at the familiar sight of the white nun before him. She had finally decided to leave her hiding spot after being viewed by his unnerving gaze. Index walked toward him with calm, measured steps, her expression neutral as she moved towards Touma.

He kept his right hand in his pocket, remembering what Stiyl had said about the Walking Church that Index was wearing. Even if the magician had said that it had the protection of an impenetrable fortress, Kamijou wasn't taking his chances.

She finally stopped approximately 3 feet in front of him. Index locked eyes with Kamijou, having to look up due to their height difference. She spoke, "….. Why are you here?"

"I heard about what's happening to you from Stiyl," Touma replied, making Index grimace as he now knew the truth of her situation. "I want to help you."

She gained a cynical glint in her eyes.

"Would you go through hell for me?" Index inquired, wanting to make the nice stranger hesitate so that he wouldn't be hurt.

Touma tilted his head at the question, contemplating all the different ways he could answer that. Then he decided. "No. But I will pull you out of that misfortunate place and make sure that you will not lose your memories anymore."

Index was shocked at his unhesitant words. "….How?"

Kamijou raised his right hand for the nun to see. "This hand of mine can stop anything supernatural, even the power of God. Those grimoires in you will probably have no chance against this chaotically powerful hand of mine."

Her eyes had widened at the simple statement, but she could draw no lies from Touma. It seemed like he was either very confident that his ability would work or it was all just mindless boasting. Even if his hand did have the solution, it was not guaranteed to be safe.

But nevertheless, it had to be tried.

Index mulled it over for two minutes, three minutes, five at the most. She came to a decision.

'_What do I have to lose?_' She thought despondently.

Index nodded, her mind made up. "Well, it doesn't hurt to try. But don't think that it will actually work, though."

At her acceptance, Touma perked up and motioned his right hand in her direction. He began to use the power of the Imagine Breaker.

Imagine Breaker. It manifested in the form of Kamijou Touma's right hand, destroying any and all supernatural occurrences to the world.

That did not mean it was isolated to just the right hand.

Touma knew that he could, for lack of a better phrase, 'alter' the properties of the Imagine Breaker. He could modify and manipulate the shape and range in which the nullification of supernatural phenomenon would occur. Touma mostly kept it isolated to his right hand, but on the rare occasion that he fought a troublesome opponent, Kamijou extended the range to his entire body. Sometimes, even _that_ was not enough and Touma had to expand the range _beyond_ his body to engulf a certain area of space.

It also had some rather strange properties as well. Touma could 'blacklist' any supernatural phenomenon so that it would not be affected by the Imagine Breaker. It took a special process to keep the supernatural phenomenon from being nullified by the Imagine Breaker. Some people would question how that could be possible, but there was a simple answer.

Kamijou Touma was an impossible and unique individual.

He carefully and precisely extended the Imagine Breaker, its shape still in the form of his right hand. It slowly made its way towards Index, who felt its invisible presence targeting her. She remained unafraid, knowing that Touma would not intentionally harm her.

The invisible nullifier passed through Index's throat until a sudden blast of concentrated energy boomed out of Index. Touma quickly retracted the power, overcome with worry that he had done something wrong.

The silver-haired girl's disposition changed. That was the only way to describe what happened next.

She stood slumped, as if barely being held by puppet strings, and her eyes shifted into glowing red magic circles that blazed with power. Kamijou could tell that this was not Index, despite her body clearly standing in front of him.

'_So this is that Defense Mode that Stiyl talked about_,' Touma thought grimly, seeing that Index was making seemingly nonsensical mutterings. He watched with caution as several magic circles appeared around the girl, humming with magical power. Index muttered a word that Kamijou could hear clearly, despite her quiet tone.

"Eliminate."

The magic circles burst with mana and blasted their collective magics at Touma.

Seeing the various forms of supernatural destruction heading towards him, Kamijou Touma summed up his thoughts in a single word.

'_Crap._'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Dang, that was a doozy to make.

I really hope everybody doesn't hate me for my interpretation of the Imagine Breaker. This is how I believe that the Imagine Breaker might have developed with Touma mastering it, but this is just my opinion. I don't mean to offend anybody because I already mentioned about Touma having control and mastery over his abilities in the Chapter 1 Author Notes.

The fight scene in this chapter was the first official one I wrote. Would you believe that? I'm kind of nervous on whether or not it was too fast-paced or not enough details.

The Judgment thing was yet another spur-of-the-moment decision because of Skill-Outs. You already saw Touma's encounter with Konori in Chapter 4. Touma is unintentionally being a ninja when he is being tracked.

Also, one last thing I want to mention.

What did everyone think of Kanzaki getting high? I put that in there for pure comedy value and to see the Kami-yan Disease turned Up to Eleven.

Edit: The chapter has been edited at the part where Index and Touma conversed. If you've read this before the day I released Chapter 7, then go back to reread it for minor differences.

If you readers have any questions, just PM me or leave it in a review.

Leave a review, please.

Signing off-Loopsey


	6. Confrontation

Pre-Chapter Notes: Hoo boy, this is my longest chapter yet. Not really much to note until I answer some reviews.

Edit: A few things have been changed up in this chapter. If you have read this before Chapter 7 was released, then you might want to look it over again.

Review Answering Segment:

johnsmmall: Touma doesn't really have the upper hand so much. He just got a huge upgrade. And his luck _is_ being cancelled by the Imagine Breaker, he just knows how to handle it better now. He will catch breaks and they _will_ be relaxing.

Guest: Yeah, I'm trying to keep Touma to his pre-memory destruction personality. As for the Sisters Arc, well, Touma is still technically the Weakest Level 0 as he has no AIM. There is also a good reason as to why he and Accelerator haven't met yet.

MoRGzY1: *chuckles* Oh yeah Kanzaki was friendly alright. And yes, things are different now that Touma is OP.

Darkdeath12: When Terra was talking about the Imagine Breaker, he had made a small mistake. He was comparing it to the Holy Right. Although, Ollerus had said that he was the closest one to figuring out the true nature of the Imagine Breaker. As for Imagine Breaker's range nullification, just look at Season 1, Episode 9 when Aureolus sliced off Touma's arm. When he tried cutting up Touma with some guillotines, they disappeared with the nullification sound that the Imagine Breaker makes.

Takawai: I just wanted to make Kanzaki high. That's just about it. Oh, there will be a little more insight on the Imagine Breaker in this chapter. It's up to your interpretation though.

Guest555: Well, imagine no more, Kanzaki's reaction to getting high is in this chapter. It's only a few lines, though, but you'll see it.

Uranos: There will be major deviations and I might even add some AU arcs along the way. One or two of them might only be fillers between major arcs though.

ADdude: Thanks for the review. I've read your story, Twist of Fate, and I can't wait to find out what happens next in that.

Anon Reviewer: If by Judgment girls, you mean Konori and Uiharu, then yes, I will bring them in later. Mikoto is feeling a bit embarrassed and angry about only having draws to Touma, so she doesn't talk about it.

I just need all you readers to remember one little tidbit: Stiyl Magnus is fourteen-years-old. If you don't believe me, check the wiki.

Finally, a special shout-out and thanks to demino_hellsin on the Anime-Suki Forum for letting me borrow some of his ideas for the Imagine Breaker.

Time to get the ball rolling!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma watched with visible alarm on his face as the various forces of magic were speeding at him. The magic struck him in a large flash and explosion, with the altered Index watching on with a neutral expression.

Index tilted her head mechanically as the smoke subsided, revealing a completely unscathed Touma. He sighed in relief, having had enough time to engulf his entire body (And even clothes) with the nullifying power of the Imagine Breaker. Index began her chanting again with a different spell in mind.

As the last syllable came out of the nun's mouth, a flurry of violent red shockwaves appeared and plowed its way towards Kamijou. He braced himself by crossing his arms over his torso with his feet set. The bursts of energy struck, causing Touma to be pushed back by the sheer force of the attack. The concrete under his feet was blasted to pieces, causing him to fly off the ground and crash into the building on the other side of the street.

Kamijou swiftly pushed his way out of the hole in the wall, narrowing his eyes at Index. He wasn't going to like doing this at all. It was bad enough that Index was being used like this, but the fact that Touma now had to defeat her made his stomach curl. He knew that she was already too far gone to speak to without making contact with the Imagine Breaker. He set his face into an expression of determination and started a purposeful sprint towards her.

Index muttered a short couplet in an old dialect of English. In the distant night sky, the stars twinkled brighter and appeared closer. Touma momentarily turned his attention to it and saw that the stars were somehow moving closer to the earth.

Then he saw that they were just white energy lances whistling through the air at supersonic speeds. And they were aimed at Touma.

"Well, isn't that just wonderful," Touma muttered sarcastically, making a turn. He jumped, planting his feet on the side of a building, and used the momentum from his sprinting to start running up the building. When he was higher up, he bounced off the building, breaking the windows with a sonic boom. Touma flew through the air, his arms stuck out in front of him.

The air around Kamijou distorted, becoming denser with the presence of the Imagine Breaker. The lances finally struck home as they came in contact with the misfortunate boy, either being deflected due to their speed and density or dissolving after making contact with the Imagine Breaker. The deflected spears of mana struck the surrounding areas, imploding with so much power that the nearby buildings collapsed.

Touma twisted his body in mid-air, narrowly avoiding the purple whip of mana that almost struck him. He pinned his eyes upon Index, who seemed to have sprouted….

'_Are those wings? Seriously, what the hell kind of grimoire did she get_ that _from?_' Kamijou thought, completely baffled by Index's new anatomic addition.

Touma was right, as Index had somehow grown crimson, angelic wings out of her back. Her left hand was bursting with purple light, which the spiky-haired boy presumed was the origin of the mana whip.

She brought the light up, waving her hand from side to side. As the light moved, violet sparks came off and shifted into several four pronged spinning stars. Index muttered a syllable monotonously and the stars spun rapidly towards Touma. He began making more acrobatic movements while still falling, avoiding what stars he could and dispelling those that he couldn't.

As Kamijou finally touched down on the ground, he rolled out of the way to dodge the yellow balls of energy that Index was conjuring around herself. They spun in circular motions around her like planets around a sun, waiting for the nun's command. Index's fingers twitched and the orbs spun before moving in front of her and combining. The result was a flaring ball of energy that roared with heat that the floating girl was unfazed from.

It floated slowly over Index, where she moved her fingers delicately over its surface. The human container of eldritch knowledge raised it over her head and chucked at Touma. It sped at speeds surpassing sound, but Kamijou blurred out of the way. The energy orb slowly fazed into the ground and imploded, disintegrating everything near it while the flashing light from the detonation coalesced into a sky-high cross that could be seen high above Academy City's skyscrapers.

Touma reappeared, standing on the side of a building while completely disregarding gravity. He blurred out again when Index made the space he had occupied collapse in on itself with a powerful vacuum of pressurized air. Finally, Touma appeared once again, merely feet above Index. His blue eyes widened as a consecutive series of magic circles appeared.

The one nearest to Index mashed itself into the next one, setting off a domino effect that was rapidly moving towards Touma. As the last magic circle was pressed, a violent burst of kinetic energy struck him. While the Imagine Breaker could nullify supernatural phenomenon, it could do nothing against mundane attacks, like a regular bullet.

Or a metric ton of kinetic force striking him at seventy kilometers an hour, which coincidentally had no mana in it.

He was sent flying through the air at speeds that would kill a normal human, if not for his naturally powerful body. Index appeared while following his pace easily with her wings. His blue eyes locked with the crimson magic circles in her eyes, which blazed once again. Touma felt a large shadow looming over him and looked up.

There was a skyscraper-sized pillar of white marble directly over him, primed to descend.

Kamijou could only deadpan at the absurdity of the spell. "Oh what the fu-"

Before he could finish his well-deserved curse, the marble pillar slammed down on Kamijou with no refrain behind its assault. It shattered the concrete underneath it as it made contact, sending powerful shockwaves which collapsed the nearby buildings and quakes that shook Academy City as a whole.

Index floated silently, the defensive procedures of her magical programming being halted due to the disappearance of the target.

Suddenly, a quake started, though not nearly as huge as the pillar's initial strike. And another, this one bigger than the last one. Yet another followed, this quake holding thrice the power of the second. Large cracks appeared on the marble pillar as each quake ensued.

The pillar violently exploded, with the debris not hitting Index due to her quickly-conjured shields. Out of the dust and smoke came a certain figure that Index had been sure was crushed underneath the stone.

Kamijou Touma coughed sparsely to clear out his lungs while dusting off his clothes from the pillar. It had taken quite a while to smash his way out under the pillar. He'd contemplated digging his way out from under, but vetoed it due to how time consuming the action would be.

Touma took a guick look around at all the collateral damage being cause by the battle between him and Index. He was glad that Index had chosen School District 11 because there were no snooping eyes around. The security had already been deactivated and the workers were 'convinced' to go home.

He set his gaze on Index, who was browsing through her grimoires to find an appropriate spell to eliminate the strange anomaly that was known as Kamijou Touma. She had steadily been raising the level and power of her spells to destroy the anomaly, but each time it was either deflected or mysteriously nullified. Index was fervently attempting to find out how the nullification was being executed, in order to counter it.

Touma's eyes widened as a he felt two familiar people moving toward their location.

'_Damnit, why now?_' Kamijou thought with exasperation. He locked his gaze on Index, who was still floating in midair with her crimson wings. '_Well, they better be in for the fight of their lives._'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Stiyl Magnus and Kanzaki Kaori were moving towards the location of the magical bursts and collateral damage. They had both felt shock when sensing that Index was the source of the monstrously large source of mana. Whenever some mana was expelled from her, she seemed to draw more from the earth.

The Church had _lied_ to them. They had said that Index Librorum Prohibitorum had not a single ounce of mana and could never do magic.

But the two magicians were feeling the proof and steadily speeding toward it.

Kanzaki was blurring from rooftop to rooftop, ruthlessly using the power of being a Saint to make progress. Stiyl could barely keep up by igniting thrusters on his hands and feet to propel himself through the air. Both of their heads were in chaos from the stunning revelation of Index using magic.

Stiyl was plain and simply panicked. '_C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, got to move faster._' While he understood the virtue of patience, he was still technically a fourteen-year-old hiding behind the illusionary visage of a man in his thirties.

Kanzaki's mind was in a jumble at the moment. '_If I had been more vigilant, I would not have been hospitalized and thrown off Index's trail._' Her face turned red, remembering her actions while under the anesthesia. Kanzaki _had not_ known she could be that brazen. And in a hospital of all places, they were supposed to be places of recovery, not dens of debauchery. Although, Kamijou had felt rather nice to hol-

'_NO! Bad thoughts, Kanzaki, bad thoughts! For the sake of the Lord, you're supposed to be a Saint!_' She criticized herself with her face blushing tomato red, trying to remove the phantom sensation of Touma's nice muscl-

'_GOD DAMNIT ALL!_' Kanzaki wailed internally. She just wished Kamijou would be willing to forget about her brazen and inappropriate actions during her brief hospitalization.

Both of the magicians saw that they had finally arrived at their destination, their eyes wandering from place to place to find Index. They blinked briefly at seeing the…. shattered remains of a giant marble pillar?

'_What?_' Kanzaki and Stiyl thought simultaneously, confused by why exactly there was a titanic pile of destroyed marble in Academy City. Then they remember Index and her grimoires.

Their eyes widened as they saw the spiky-haired boy clashing with Index who…. had red wings coming out of her back?

'_What grimoire did she get _that_ from?_' The Saint and fire magician wondered, their thoughts unknowingly mirroring each other. They felt shock coursing through their veins as Index muttered a Norse chant, which caused storm clouds to gather.

The pair quickly moved and landed to both sides of Kamijou, ready to join the fight. Touma himself blinked and glanced at each of them. "Not that I mind the back-up, but what are you two doing here?"

Stiyl responded first while lighting a cigarette. "Index was our responsibility to begin with. You were the one who just crashed in and did… whatever the hell it was you did to make her like _that_." He pointed the smoking cigarette at the floating Index, who was still working through an ominous chant.

Kamijou grimaced. "If I had known the Imagine Breaker would do that, I would've tried something different." He responded while pointing with his left hand towards his right.

Kanzaki decided to interject before the two started an argument. "We don't have time for this, we need to stop Index before she hurts herself." She spoke with her hands set firmly on her nodachi, Shichiten Schichitou.

The silver-haired nun coincidentally chose that moment to finish her latest spell.

A chilling echo rang out in the atmosphere as the storm clouds (Which had grown much larger than before) started rumbling, some flashes of electricity ringing out through the night. Kamijou, Kanzaki, and Stiyl looked up at the magically super-powered storm with wariness. Their eyes widened in perfect synchronization as the frequency of the electric current increased.

The sky flashed as several titanic bolts of lightning were discharged down at the trio.

"Get down!" Touma shouted, rapidly expanding the Imagine Breaker to block the lightning. The magicians ducked, unable to disobey the suddenly-commanding tone of the high schooler.

The lightning struck the Imagine Breaker.

To anyone that knew Kamijou Touma as a regular, albeit misfortunate high school student, the view of him stopping lightning bolts striking down from the heavens with his bare hands was awe-inspiring. The lightning was constantly pounding away at the invisible and dense force of the Imagine Breaker, both duking it out to see which would last.

Touma grit his teeth as the lightning was still streaming down from the cloud. The two magicians were staring in uncovered awe as they watched Kamijou continually nullify the lightning. Their minds sharpened as they realized that they had to help in some way.

Stiyl readied his tarot cards with runes printed on them, murmuring a chant fervently, while Kanzaki was readying her blade. Kamijou was still facing off with the storm, his will keeping the Imagine Breaker impenetrable.

"Go and stop Index! I can hold this off!" He shouted. The two sent him incredulous stares before shaking it off and moving briskly to Index.

"Nanasen!" Kanzaki yelled as the steel wires guided by her hand went flying towards Index, knowing that the Walking Church could deflect any unnecessary damage.

"Innocentius!" Stiyl shouted as the being made of fire flared into existence with a bellowing roar. Innocentius thrust out its hands, blasting out concentrated streams of fire.

Index herself gave a mighty flap of her crimson wings, easily jolting the steel wires and blowing out the flames. However, the action came at a cost. The spell she had used to create the lightning storm had required her utmost attention or it would eventually dissipate.

The stream of lightning facing off with the Imagine Breaker finally dispersed with a loud sound of shattering glass, both from the continuous stream of mana being cut off and the nullification effect taking place. Kamijou staggered for a moment, disoriented from the flashes of lightning. He was now in a scorched crater with destroyed surroundings, which had a perfect diameter to a certain degree around him where the Imagine Breaker had protected him. Whatever had not been covered by the nullification effect was reduced to molten slag by the heat and power of the lightning

Touma shook off the spots in his vision before moving to join Stiyl and Kanzaki in their face-off against Index. He gave a wince as they were struggling with the air current from her flapping wings. Kamijou's pace only increased when he saw Index making yet _another_ chant. This one was making only a single magic circle appear silently in front of her.

She finished it more quickly and spoke its name to invoke its effect upon the world.

"Dragon's Breath."

A white beam of energy immediately blasted out from the circle, flying towards Stiyl and Kanzaki. They had been prepared to go to the death to keep Index safe, but there was something ironic that they were being (unintentionally) eliminated by the girl they had been tasked to protect. A familiar figure moved in front of them, blocking the magic again. Kamijou was currently holding back the beam of destruction with something resembling ease, with Kanzaki and Stiyl still fatigued from the long fight.

What he did not know was that there were different levels to the spell. He was only currently staving off the basic level of the powerful attack. Although, every level held the feature of the Feathers of Light in common. With each increasing level, the beam became more and more destructive.

Index muttered a few commands. "Base output of Dragon's Breath is ineffective against the anomaly. Now modifying to double output."

The laser grew in both size and intensity at the nun's command, making the ground under Touma's feet buckle from the pressure. Kamijou himself was still holding steady under the beam, still using the Imagine Breaker to nullify it. Index tilted her head, and the John's Pen Mode finally decided to go more drastic measures.

"Double output of Dragon's Breath ineffective against the anomaly…." Her next words sent an icy chill down Stiyl and Kanzaki's spines.

"Now modifying to maximum output." Index declared mechanically with a tone of finality.

The beam's size and power both increased several times over. As the Dragon's Breath spell grew more dangerous with each level, it destroyed more and more. When it hit maximum output, the recorded results had been devastating.

Everything in its path had been disintegrated on the atomic level.

The beam was quickly making Kamijou falter, who was being pushed back slowly by the spell. He dug his feet into the ground further, hoping to stop the demented supernatural version of pushing. Touma felt a small bit of searing pain and looked at his arms, which were still coated in the expanded Imagine Breaker.

They had begun to burn under the atomizing beam of the Dragon's Breath.

Finally, the ground under Kamijou's feet faltered and failed him. While Kamijou Touma was nigh-invincible with his power, his surroundings were not. He stumbled and it seemed to be the end for Kamijou Touma. In his eyes, the entire world was engulfed in white light.

Stiyl and Kanzaki watched on in horror at the Dragon's Breath finally engulfed the stupendously powerful boy. Up until that spell had been used, Touma had been easily capable of dictating the battle's pace. Now, it seemed that he had finally met his match and (possibly) demise.

Index slowly floated to the ground, still maintaining the ray of disintegration in case Kamijou popped up again. When she finally made contact with the devastated concrete, Index let her wings dissipate. John's Pen Mode never made the same mistake twice.

Never.

Suddenly, a familiar right hand appeared behind Index and flicked her in the back of her head. A small sound of breaking glass was drowned out under the roar of the Dragon's Breath spell. The beam dissipated to a sloppy close as the stream of mana it was being fed was cut off.

Index's posture changed and her eyes shifted from crimson magic circles to emerald green irises. She staggered for a few moments, feeling completely exhausted. Index looked up, seeing Kamijou's soot-covered features as he smiled gently at her.

She turned her head to the surroundings, viewing the devastation with confusion. "What happened here?"

"They lied." Touma stated simply. Index blinked, shifting her gaze to him. "You can do magic. They just lied to keep a leash on you."

Her eyes widened as he relayed the news to her. Index choked up for a moment, trying to force her tears back. "N-No, it can't be…" She whispered in a low tone, unable to believe the shocking news.

"Sorry, but it's true." Kamijou countered bluntly, making the girl flinch at his harsh words. He grimaced when he saw this. Touma didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but there was no point in sugar-coating his words as he didn't want to lie to the girl.

Kamijou decided to intervene in the direction that her train of thought was taking her before she had a breakdown. He pointed at the two exhausted magicians making their way towards them. "Don't believe that everyone's out for those books in your head, though. Those two really did love you like family. As for me… well, what do I need magic for?" Touma shrugged as he spoke the last part. It was true. His own power far exceeded anything that human magic could achieve.

Index turned her teary gaze to the nervous fire magician and Saint, who were waiting for her to speak. She took a deep, shaky breath. "… I-Is it true?"

The two simply nodded, causing tears to finally fall down Index's cheeks as she lunged forward. Kanzaki and Stiyl flinched, thinking that she would invoke another spell. Their fear turned to shock as Index gave a crushing hug to both of them, visibly shaking with her sobs. The duo quickly returned the kind gesture, as Touma watched on with satisfaction from the side.

He looked up at the slowly descending rain of feathers. One of them touched Kamijou's head, exploding with suppressed mana. The three magicians were jolted out of their hug as they watched Kamijou's head be engulfed by a blue glow from the Feather of Light.

The Feather of Light was an after-effect of the spell known as Dragon's Breath. When the spell was used at the base level, the feathers would simply destroy the memory of whomever it came into contact with. The feather would kill anybody at the second level of Dragon's Breath. The most devastating effect came at the full potential of the spell.

When the Feather of Light that was expelled from Dragon's Breath at its maximum, it completely destroyed the soul of whomever it came into contact with.

Touma's very being distorted with blue light as his body convulsed, the Imagine Breaker not having time to reverse the damage. Blue gouts of mana burst out of his chest, Kamijou's body burning from the Feather of Light.

Index, Stiyl, and Kanzaki watched on helplessly with a supreme sense of horror and guilt. It was true that Kamijou had been a complete stranger to them a short while ago, but _nobody_ deserved to have their soul destroyed. Touma's body convulsed one last time before dropping to the ground, smoke curling off of him.

Index was choking from her dry sobs, blaming herself for this entire mess. If she had just stayed with Kanzaki and had her memories erased, then the nice stranger would never have been involved in all this. He wouldn't have perished. She heard a strange sound and looked through burning, bloodshot eyes at Kamijou's downed form.

Three pairs of eyes widened as Touma's body glowed, a soft layer of white settling on his form. Kamijou slowly picked himself off the ground and began to float in midair, the damage to his body disappearing at an alarming rate.

The Imagine Breaker would not allow its user to die.

When Kamijou Touma had first obtained the Imagine Breaker, he also gained complete insight on its nature and properties. All it had taken was a matter of time to master it. Touma had grown weary of its abilities and locked up its most powerful aspect to make sure that he didn't fall to the temptation of using its power.

In order to save its host, the Imagine Breaker Awakened Kamijou Touma.

Touma was hunched over in midair, his eyes blazing like a blue sun as his lips moved. His mouth was forming inhuman syllables that seemed to thrum in the magician's souls. His back convulsed as something seemed to burst out of them.

They were wings, but at the same time not. The gray energy sprayed out in two thin waves out of his back, vaguely forming wing shapes. The energy flowed, yet never advanced, as if tearing at reality. A low thrumming was heard as the wings were vibrating from the unknown energy. They were strange. They were unique.

The Awakening of Kamijou Touma was _different_.

Reality had begun to throw yet another surprise at Stiyl, Kanzaki, and Index. Small blue shockwaves flowed out of Touma as he made incoherent grunting sounds, his body making the occasional twitch.

He finally arched his back and bellowed out a roar that chilled the trio of magicians to the core. Touma panted and turned his gaze to them. His eyes were somehow shifting through all the colors of the rainbow as he seemed to stare into their souls.

Stiyl stepped forward cautiously, wanting to ask why the boy had wings sprouting out of his back. "Kamijou, are you alright?" He prided himself for not stuttering. Nobody would blame him for showing fear in front of someone (Or some_thing_?) who managed to force their way back from total spiritual destruction and sprout wings of energy from their back.

Touma tilted his head. "Hmm…. How would my host respond to this?" Those words sent a jolt of shock and fear down Stiyl's spine as he realized who, or more precisely _what_, he was talking to. He'd felt Its presence from all the way across the city when he was viewing Kamijou Touma with Alyssa Crowley at the Windowless Building. Strangely enough, he couldn't feel the presence at the moment. Stiyl deduced that it was because that _thing_ was borrowing Kamijou's body

"W-What did you do to him? And what do you mean by 'host'?" Kanzaki questioned. Kamijou –no….this was not Touma, but something borrowing his body- turned his head over to her, making her feel like ice was forming in her stomach.

The Invisible Thing had viewed the 'battle' and had grown interested. Normally, It would simply replicate Touma's memories and insert Itself into the role of Its host to 'feel' what living like a substance being was like. The experience was rather novel, if It had anything to 'say' about it.

However, when Touma's body seemed to be jolted by that feather, It had decided to see what inserting Itself in real time felt like. The Invisible Thing was rather surprised to feel the wings when Touma's body finally started sending him sensations.

It turned Kamijou's head back to Kanzaki, remembering what 'politeness' and 'courteousness' were and decided to respond to her fearful question. "Ah, I am what you could call an…. Other Being, I 'suppose'. And if by 'him', you mean my host, then he is fi-fkdjslncdlqnlcdnlfdjsalcndsljcsjkon." It quickly snapped Its mouth shut as the magicians watched in bewilderment at his vocal slip-up.

It gave a sheepish smile that was just _strange_, despite using Touma's mouth. "It seems like I am still unused to using a substance being's 'mouth'. As I said, Kamijou Touma is just fine. He is simply in the recesses of his soul, repairing the damage that the…. feather, its name was?... did to him. He will be out shortly." The Invisible Thing stated, Its smile and tone apologetic.

The magicians were still in shock (There seemed to be a lot of shocking things happening to Kamijou Touma.) over the Unknown Entity, Its behavior, and what Touma was apparently doing. Index decided to ask It one of her own questions.

"When will Touma come out? And are you sure his damage can be fixed?" She asked anxiously, biting her lip.

It took a contemplative gesture, despite floating in midair using the strange wings. "The damages are simple for his power. He will be out in approximately five minutes. In the meantime, I will repair all this." It glanced around, looking curiously at the destruction from Touma and Index's battle. It raised Touma's hand and muttered a short syllable, flowing Its energy into the world

The magicians felt as if the universe just hiccupped and looked. Three jaws dropped in baffled confusion as everything was not destroyed. The buildings were undamaged, the streetlights lit, and the concrete unleveled. Every piece of damage from Touma and Index's battle had been completely reversed.

Stiyl picked up his jaw first and turned back to the flying boy. "How did you…." He blinked as Touma's color-shifting eyes settled back to a tired blue. Kamijou blinked, wondering what he was doing with wings. He was pretty sure he'd sealed them up.

"What the…" Touma murmured, confused by the sequence of events. Then he received the memories of what the Invisible Thing did while he was fixing the damage to his identity and being. Kamijou's right eye-lid twitched as the flowing energy continued to come out of his back.

He took a deep breath and slowly floated down, all the while retracting the wings into his back. Touma looked at the trio, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "You guys probably want answers, don't you?"

The three exchanged glances, giving the occasional glance at Touma as well. They reached a general consensus. Kanzaki decided to speak up. "We all have our secrets." She started carefully, not wanting to provoke him into bringing that Being out again. "It's rather obvious that you don't want to talk about yours." Kanzaki finished.

Kamijou frowned at that. "But I made you tell me about Index and her grimoires, didn't I? It's only fair that you ask about my secrets." The trio winced at his selfless words.

"That was a special situation." Stiyl excused. "Besides, we don't really _want_ to know. No offense, but there _is_ a limit to divulging secrets." He shuddered, remembering how _strange_ Kamijou had been after sprouting wings and being possessed by what was called an Other Being.

The fire magician felt his form shift as the barcode tattoo started expelling steam. Touma tensed up and got the Imagine Breaker ready to nullify some type of magic for the nth time that night. Stiyl burst into smoke, leaving a small outline seen through the steam.

The sight behind the steam made Kanzaki blink, Index shout in confusion, and Touma to mutter 'Such misfortune.'

It was a Stiyl Magnus who looked about the same age as Index. The boy himself was wearing something different from the priest robes that he had been wearing. Instead of black robes, the suddenly-young Stiyl was wearing a black turtleneck and blood-red slacks. He swayed from side to side, feeling his gravity shifting dramatically.

"….Okay, I can accept the lightning storm, flying steel wires, and even the freakin' stone pillar, but that?" Touma spouted, jabbing a thumb at Stiyl's young form, who was looking himself over in shock at seeing that his illusionary magic failed. "That's it, you magicians are crazy and nothing is going to change my opinion." He finished irritably, flinging his arms up in surrender.

The three magicians felt their visions swimming, the world shifting, and everything finally went black for them. Touma watched with alarm as the trio fainted at the same time. His own fatigue had disappeared quickly as his body recovered from the events of that evening.

Kamijou glanced down at his still-burnt hands, which smelt suspiciously like barbecued meat. He winced and clenched his fists, doing his best to ignore the pain. There was a sound of pressure being released, and Touma's hands were now completely unscathed.

Kamijou sighed, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his miraculously unbroken phone. He dialed a certain number and greeted the person who responded. "Yo, doc, everything's done. Can you send someone to pick up three patients?"

"…"

"What do you mean, what did I do this time?!" He shouted in indignation. "Do you think that every time something makes a big explosion in this city, this Kamijou-san had something to do with it!?"

"…"

"…Okay, point taken, but still," Touma sighed, exasperated by the conversation. "Just have _somebody_ pick them up. Goodbye." He cut off the call, turning away from the unconscious trio. Kamijou gave a small smile at the relaxed looks on the trio's faces.

"Get a good rest." He whispered before turning away to walk to his apartment.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The next day, Heaven Canceller was working through his paperwork as Kamijou Touma came to visit. The magicians had already woken up and were starting a ruckus. Despite the noise they were causing, it was heartwarming to see them acting like a family. Although, the Saint was going through the same 'side-effect' as last time. In Heaven Canceller's opinion, this was hilarious.

Kamijou Touma walked by with a brief greeting to the frog-faced doctor. He was carrying a large bag in one of his hands, hoping that what was inside would appease the magicians after the trouble he'd put them through.

He glanced at the door of their hospital ward and suddenly felt his instincts blare like his last visit. It was urging him to just leave the package for them to peruse later and turn around to run away. Once again, he foolishly ignored it.

Kamijou opened the door and came to a strange sight that made his face go slightly red.

Kanzaki Kaori had somehow pulled Index and Stiyl out of their hospital beds and brought them to her own. She was grinning wildly as she mashed the red-faced Index and Stiyl (Who still looked as young as Index, he noticed.) to her mature bosom in a bear hug. They were feeling embarrassed and bordering on gibbering messes. Touma was torn between turning around and leaving, apologizing for intruding….

Or shamelessly laughing his ass off at the sight before him. He was rather inclined to turn to the last option due to someone else suffering the attention of a drugged Saint.

Kamijou was unsuccessfully trying to stifle his chuckles while covering a hand over his mouth. Unfortunately, his reaction was too obvious and three pairs of eyes shifted towards him. Touma immediately schooled his expression into something resembling awkwardness and coughed into his fist.

Upon seeing the spiky-haired boy there, Kanzaki's grin widened even further than it already had and the two fourteen-year-olds were mouthing 'Help!' at him. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Touma-kun! And he has a present!" Kanzaki spouted with excitement. The boy blinked at the added honorific before shrugging it off.

Kamijou held up the bag containing the apology gift he'd bought on his way to the hospital that morning. He set it down on a nearby table and moved the sterile furniture near the bed that the trio had occupied. The magicians had their eyes set on the box with Index and Stiyl momentarily forgetting their plight to stare curiously.

Touma opened the box and pulled out a certain item that made the hospitalized trio's mouths salivate.

It was a chocolate cake with vanilla icing. But at the moment, it was a heavenly sight when the three compared it to their bland hospital food that they had received when they had woken up. Stiyl suddenly remembered something and opened his mouth to speak.

Touma cut him off, already knowing what the red-head was going to say. "Don't worry, doc already gave the go-ahead for you guys to eat sweets." He gained a contemplative look on his and added one last statement that set off the magicians.

"The cake is not a lie." Touma said with an inviting smile.

Kanzaki squealed with delight and let go of the two fourteen-year-olds to lunge at Kamijou. The two gasped with relief, finally free from the soft and suffocating prison. Touma gave a surprised grunt as he was tackled to the ground by the overjoyed and drugged Saint, who was repeating the words, 'Thank you!', at rapid fire speed.

Stiyl and Index smiled a little at the sight before moving over to the cake. Stiyl searched in the box and found some plastic utensils and plates stashed in the bag that the package had been in. Kamijou had somehow untangled himself from Kanzaki's insistent grip and moved over to grab the plastic knife to cut the cake.

After cutting up the cake and handing everybody their piece, the quartet pulled up some chairs to eat. Stiyl and Index had, strangely enough, decided to discuss magic theories, even after the chaos it had caused beforehand. Kanzaki had chosen to sit _very_ close to Touma while trying to feed him the cake.

It was a good day for them.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: And so the Index Arc of To Ascend comes to a close.

It seems like chapter length is somehow getting longer and longer with each update. The only real problem I had with this chapter was Index's spells and procrastination. Can't forget the procrastination.

Was the fight scene satisfying? Because now that I look at it, it's more just Index attacking and Touma blocking/deflecting/nullifying/you get the idea. That took quite a bit of the chapter.

I am now referring to entities like the Invisible Thing, WHITE, and Aiwass as Other Beings. Mostly because their power is completely different and they hail from another realm of existence.

Touma goes through the Awakening. Hopefully, everyone will forgive me for the modifications I made to the Dragon's Breath spell and the Feathers of Light.

That last thing about the cake was just there to help the chapter finish.

Anyway, if you have any questions, leave them in a review or PM me the question. I can't keep answering the reviews or else they might take more length than the actual chapter.

Signing off for now-Loopsey


	7. Change of Things

Pre-Chapter Notes: Hello again, my faithful readers. I have yet another chapter prepared. Time to answer some reviews and give some news first.

Review Answering Segment:

Gravebomber: … Huh, that's the first time someone gave the –dono honorific. I'll do my best to stay in good health to continue this story. Hopefully, the only problems I will face will be procrastination and writer's block.

Kaze: I know that the Invisible Thing is mostly speculation, but this is what my story is for. This is just me expressing my idea about IT. As for Touma last power, are you talking about the reparation of all the damage or his wings? The damage was repaired by the Invisible Thing to begin with. But Touma's power …. I feel that at the basis of his power, he just has higher precedence in existence. A byproduct of it is Reality Warping. I hope that you continue to bear with me on my canon deviations.

Mitomeru: Index _will_ learn magic, but she is not coming back for a while. But Majin!Index is … hrmmm…..

tsun: I read what you put up on Anime-Suki and I've adjusted the dialogue between Touma and Index to be different from before. Check it out when you can.

PCheshire: The reason Stiyl uses illusions to make himself look older is because most people would not take a fourteen-year-old seriously.

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: I have changed the content of Touma and Index's conversation, so check out the parts where they talked again to see the changes. The parts are the last segment of Chapter 5 and after the fight scene in Chapter 6.

One last thing before the chapter: Fukiyose is going to be OOC in this chapter. Maybe Kamijou, too, at the last part of this. I'll leave it up to you guys to decide.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Laura Stuart hummed a nameless tune as she kicked her feet back and forth in the heated water of the bathtub she was sitting on. She was still dressed, but that didn't mean she had to deny herself the pleasures of getting her feet soaked. Laura had decided to do this after receiving a sense of foreboding just a few hours before, but she had brushed it off.

Then it decided to come back with a renewed vigor like no other.

Laura's expression turned alarmed as she felt a certain source of mana suddenly become unstable. Then, to her horror and consternation, it disappeared entirely.

She quickly pulled her feet out of the bathtub and had them dried with a quick application of mana. Laura made her way out of the room containing her collection of pristine bathtubs (It wasn't strange to have a collection of bathtubs, was it?) and made a brisk pace outside of the room.

After a painstakingly long amount of time, Laura finally came to a secluded location in the Buckingham Palace to check on a certain magical device.

When Index Librorum Prohibitorum had her mana sealed and defenses magically put onto her, there was a device made to activate and control her Defense Mode. The spiritual remote controller was still lying in the same place that Laura Stuart had hidden it, but there was something different from before.

It was broken.

Laura's jaw dropped a tiny bit, wondering how it had happened. The only way this could have happened was if Index's magical defenses were somehow completely destroyed. But that would mean…..

Laura Stuart felt herself go cold at the implications. The holder of practically every magical technique in the world (Both harmless _and_ horrifyingly dangerous.) was now running around with her magic unrestrained. She could only pray that Index would not be angry and make the Anglican Church into a firing range for her destructive spells.

Laura Stuart would never admit that she was scared, even _if_ just a tiny bit. Or that she felt the overwhelming urge to just scream in hysterics and run around like a headless chicken. No, that would not help the situation one bit.

The Archbishop of the Church of England could only give a weak, shuddering breath and have one thought running through her head.

'_This isn't good._'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The General Superintendent of Academy City, Alyssa Crowley, looked calmly at the collection of holographic screens. The footage being replayed the battle between Kamijou Touma (It seemed like he was possibly going to get more active into the darker affairs of Academy City again.) and the infamous Index Librorum Prohibitorum in action from last night. Truly, the battle was a fascinating clash between two unique entities of incredible power, but there was something that irritated her as well.

When Kamijou had been in the process of blocking the most powerful rendition of the Dragon's Breath spell, some of the deflected energy from the beam had sprayed off in different directions. One of the directions, in particular, led up.

Up into the Tree Diagram supercomputer, which blew up from the spell.

Due to this immense setback, Alyssa had to modify several of her plans to compensate for the loss of Tree Diagram. Of course, there had been benefits as well. The footage had helped Crowley gather more data on the obscure abilities of Kamijou Touma. She only had accurate information on the Imagine Breaker while his other abilities remained somewhat enigmatic to even _her_.

And that was not even counting the teasing hints she received from her mentor, Aiwass. When Kamijou had been touched by the Feather of Light (Now, it _was_ intriguing to know that not even spiritual destruction could keep the immensely powerful boy down.), her surveillance systems had started malfunctioning and the footage became distorted. When the glitches had been fixed, the camera had shown Kamijou walking away from the unconscious trio of the magicians, completely uninjured and the surroundings completely undamaged. It was as if the battle had never happened.

The last time a malfunction like that had happened, Kamijou had defeated and accidentally traumatised the Number Two and Four Level 5's.

When Kamijou had been on his legendary warpath that was dubbed the 'Bloody Path of the Dragon', he'd busted a few of the Kihara family's more secretive experiments, which caused the Board of Directors to become irritated by the boy's intervention in the projects. Even when Alyssa Crowley herself ordered them to take no action against Touma, the politicians of Academy City had sent Dark Matter, Meltdowner, and their teams to eliminate him when he was busting the next experiment.

The teams had been forced into a temporary truce to eliminate the pesky boy and confronted him in the laboratory he had snuck into. At first, Touma had been completely surprised and pushed back by the expert teamwork and abilities of the collaborating teams.

Then, as Kinuhata Saiai had reported, 'things got super _weird_'. Nobody, even Alyssa, could counter that statement.

Touma had started to use the ability he was born with. It was awe-inspiring, feeling even a small glimpse of an insignificant sliver of his true power. It could not be recorded, as the power caused overloads in the camera system.

Kamijou had started completely disregarding the reality of normal humans, using his power to transcend it all.

Alyssa Crowley found the symbolism in Kamijou Touma's name rather fitting when she felt his power.

The footage had started malfunctioning at the point when Touma had started glowing white, but it was easy enough to deduce what had happened. When the recording continued unhindered, Kamijou Touma stood solemnly in the middle of the laboratory with the occasional white wisp of energy running through his spiky black hair.

The laboratory had looked like it was attacked by a monster of immense power and size, like a dragon. There was white dust scattered everywhere that Alyssa could only presume were shredded research papers. The floors, walls, ceiling, everything, really, looked like they had been cut into by giant invisible claws.

All of the members of ITEM and SCHOOL, barring their leaders, were all lying on the ruined floor, incapacitated by Kamijou. Dark Matter was lying against the wall, his form shuddering in pain, eyes shell-shocked, and mouthing the word 'What.' over and over again. Near him were giant wings that were made of dark matter and looked like they were sloppily and painfully torn off of Teitoku's back.

It seemed that in his frustration and rage of not being able to defeat a 'measly Level 0', he had Awakened. His power had elevated to where he could take on every mundane army in the world and _win_. (Though it would still not be enough to defeat Accelerator. The Number One was so far beyond the other Level 5's with his vector manipulation that it might be deemed hilarious.)

But his attacks had still been deflected and Alyssa could only deduce Touma had torn his wings off with his bare hands.

On the other hand, Mugino Shizuri was fearfully backed up into a corner, curled up in the fetal position. Her eyes held a complex mixture of fear and awe, directed at the silent Kamijou Touma. The wielder of the Imagine Breaker himself was simply standing there with a far-off look in his eyes before he suddenly disappeared. It was as if he had been there one second and not the next.

The entire incident had landed both hit squads in the hospital and the Level 5's requiring psychological help to help the trauma that Touma had unintentionally brought upon them.

But that was acceptable. Ninety-eight percent of Alyssa Crowley's plans accounted for Kamijou Touma causing something chaotic and unpredictable to happen with the after-effects being completely drastic. In fact, Alyssa had found it to be somewhat of an amusing pastime to see what kind of strange thing Kamijou Touma would do next.

When her mentor had found out, Alyssa still couldn't convince the Other Being that it was simply research instead of voyeurism. She still couldn't figure where or _how_ Aiwass had found out about that type of activity.

Alyssa Crowley just sighed. "It seems like things are going to get livelier. This will require me to alter more of my plans."

)))))) Line Break ((((((

At A Certain High School, there were a few strange individuals that attended there. Two in particular stood out quite prominently.

One of the teachers, Tsukuyomi Komoe, was strange in the fact that she looked as young as a grade schooler. Her actual age was an infamous mystery among the many students of the school, but it was generally known that she was one of the oldest residents of Academy City, along with the enigmatic General Superintendent and a certain frog-faced doctor.

The other one tended to cause a major stir among the resident of the highschool. Not because he was irritating, but because he had strange luck.

Kamijou Touma was possibly the most (in)famous student in the school, having been the source of the 'Kami-yan Disease'. Ever since he had started his first year, his generally nice demeanor had attracted the infatuation of several female students and even teachers in the school. But that was not what garnered his reputation.

Kamijou Touma's luck was chaotic.

There were times where Touma's luck was so good that it seemed like he was being favored by Lady Luck herself (Or 'triggered her romance flag', as Aogami Pierce often said). Other occasions had him soldiering through misfortune so horrible that most, if not all, of the females who saw this gain sympathy and minor infatuation for him. The spiky-haired boy himself called it misfortune most of the time because the fortunate occurrences were more often than not extremely short and led up to extremely misfortunate things.

One particularly unlucky occurrence in particular led up to the Ramen Incident, but nobody liked to speak of it.

Then there was the time that Kamijou had disappeared from school for four months and come back _different_. He was more alert and his eyes were often moving everywhere as if someone was going to spring up out of nowhere to attack him. When Aogami had snuck up on Touma to surprise him, some people reported having seen the blue-haired boy being thrown out of the nearby window and splashing into the pool.

At the high school, there was also one female student who seemed to be completely unaffected by the 'Kami-yan Disease' and even possibly irritated by Kamijou's nonchalant approach to life. Because of this, she had been dubbed the Iron Wall Girl due to resisting the subconscious charm of Kamijou Touma.

She was Fukiyose Seiri, who was currently very nervous about conversing with Kamijou Touma. It was almost the end of the school day and she was standing in front of the entrance to her classroom, working up the nerve to speak to the boy about what she had seen the other night.

She could hear the discussions taking place inside, the topic of choice being the strange quakes and noises that had occurred a few nights ago. While the residents of Academy City were used to strange events happening, that event had rather strange circumstances behind it. Some spectators had reported feeling something similar to buildings collapse in the distance, odd sounds ring out, and even strange flashes of light illuminate the night.

But Fukiyose Seiri cared for none of that at the moment.

After seeing him get blown up, emerge from the damage completely unscathed, brutally beat the person who had blown him up, and even converse with some type of alien _thing_ that was just _different_, Fukiyose felt the need to have a few questions answered.

But there was also the fact that she had never been very polite to him about his lackadaisical attitude. In fact, she felt horrible about how she often said that Touma was wasting his life away by bemoaning his misfortune. But facing down something that felt downright _godlike_ without so much as flinch, Fukiyose was feeling lower than dirt for saying those things. She'd never considered what exactly Kamijou Touma went through in his off-time before writing him off as hopeless.

'_Seriously, what _was_ that thing?_' Seiri thought, her mind borderline unable to leave the subject of the strange entity. She shook it off, adding it to one of the things she would ask Kamijou about. '_You can worry about that later. You need to talk to Kamijou _now_ or else you're gonna psych out _again_._' Several times during the previous school days, Fukiyose had tried again and again to ask Touma to speak with him privately, but she always chickened out at the last second.

Fukiyose took a deep breath and slid the door open. She poked her head inside and glanced around, searching for a familiar head of spiky-hair. In the corner of her eye, Seiri could see Touma at his desk with his head lying down in his crossed arms. His frame was slowly moving up and down with every relaxed breath that the often-misfortunate boy took.

"K-Kamijou," She called nervously, making the boy's head motion up before setting his tired blue eyes on her. Fukiyose felt that wriggling fear that made her want to say 'Nevermind.' and run away, but forced it down without a moment's hesitation. "T-There's something I need to talk to you about on the rooftop. Come alone, though! I only want to talk to y-you." And she moved away quickly, going up to the stated location

'_There, was that so hard?_' Seiri thought for a moment as she moved up the stairs. '_….Okay, yeah, yeah it was._'

Back in the classroom, a fragile silence hung over the classroom, having been caused by the Iron Wall Girl's words. Normally, the girl had a very confident and take-charge kind of personality that took no jokes. Fukiyose genuinely cared about her classmates and did her best to keep them in order when Komoe-sensei was not around.

But seeing her completely nervous and asking to talk to Kamijou Touma in _private_ had quieted the classroom faster than Komoe-sensei possibly ever could. Finally, the classroom exploded with outbursts and screams.

"UUUUUUUWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHH HHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" One person screamed in panic and rage.

"HAS THE IRON WALL FINALLY RUSTED AND FALLEN APART UNDER THE KAMI-YAN DISEASE!?" Another spluttered loudly, his beliefs being torn apart at the seams.

"IT'S THE END OF THE WOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRLLLLLLLLLLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD !" A completely fearful boy wailed, watching the sky outside the windows in case the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse descended.

"THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE AGAINST THE KAMI-YAN DISEASE HAS FALLEN! MANKIND IS DOOMEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!" Many of the males in the class room screamed in unison, abject horror lacing their cries.

While this uproar was going on, Kamijou Touma had silently moved out of his desk and snuck out the classroom door. He was moving to the rooftop, intent towards finding out why Fukiyose Seiri was acting so fearful and nervous.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Fukiyose Seiri watched the door to the rooftop nervously, waiting for Kamijou to open it. She was sitting on one of the benches, her hands fidgeting. Seiri's fingers were gently tugging on the fabric of her uniform skirt, as if trying to draw strength from them.

After what seemed like a century of waiting, the door finally opened with an ominous, spine-chilling creak. Kamijou motioned it open slowly, trying to force his rampant paranoia down. He spotted Fukiyose sitting down nervously. Touma had difficulty believing that it was actually his classmate and not some type of shape-shifting magician, but he sensed no mana flowing off of her whatsoever.

He moved to sit down next to her, blinking as he saw Seiri flinch a tiny bit before reluctantly relaxing. Kamijou decided to try and figure out why she had called him to the rooftop for a private talk. "So, Fukiyose, what did you want to talk about?"

The aforementioned female gave another twitch at his words and didn't respond. Touma's face scrunched up in concern at the head-strong Fukiyose Seiri being quiet about something. "Fukiyose?"

Seiri took another deep breath. '_Now or never, Seiri._'

"Kamijou…." She started carefully, wondering which question to start the conversation with. He leaned in a bit, causing her cheeks to go pink at how close he was. "Yeah?" He inquired with an innocent look of curiosity on his face.

"How?" Fukiyose asked simply. Touma tilted his head and responded with a 'Huh?'

"How did you survive that explosion?" She elaborated on the question. Kamijou's eyes widened at the question and he tensed up, ready to jump off the rooftop and retreat to his apartment. Touma forced himself to calm down and gave a strained chuckle. "W-What are you talking about, Fukiyose?"

She finally confessed about the night when she had seen Kamijou's encounter with that strange woman, his brutal beat-down on her, and his conversation with that _thing_. Touma hung on to every word, becoming more and more pale with every statement that the Iron Wall Girl was telling him.

"S-So I have to ask, Kamijou, just _what_ is going on?" Fukiyose asked, quivering after her explanation. Her fear only increased when she saw the usually lax boy change his posture into something resembling that attitude he had when he brutally defeated that unknown person. It was one thing to see it from the sidelines, but being the recipient of such a smoldering gaze made her want to bolt off the rooftop as fast as she could.

He deflated a little, realizing that she was scared and him becoming serious only made it worse. Touma didn't blame her at all. Fukiyose had simply been a victim of misfortunate circumstances and had just been in the wrong place at the wrong time. She hadn't meant to see any of what was going on between him and Kanzaki. But he had to choose his words carefully or a whole new can of worms would have to be pried open.

Maybe Tsuchimikado _had_ gotten something right to when he had said, 'Nyaaa, Kami-yan, you can be a pretty scary dude when you want to be.' Touma was starting to see what he meant when the blonde sis-con had said that.

He still held his gaze on Seiri, the atmosphere still tense. Touma sighed dejectedly. "I can't tell you." He stated bluntly. Fukiyose's jaw dropped at his response.

"B-Bu-" She started.

"But nothing," Kamijou interrupted. He decided to continue before she lost her fear and got angry as she usually did. "If I told you what was going on, you wouldn't understand. Frankly, if this Kamijou-san had a choice in these matters, I would've favored you or anyone else innocent not finding out at all."

"But I saw you get _blown up!_" She yelled, gaining heat behind her outburst. He remained unflinching at the increased volume of her voice. "You were seriously about to die and you're telling me that I _wouldn't understand!?_"

At some point during her outburst, Fukiyose had grabbed Kamijou by the collar of his shirt and pulled him down to look him in the eye. Steely blue eyes met smoldering brown eyes as their wills faced off in a silent stare-down. Fukiyose's shoulders sagged as she realized that she was trying to match the willpower of someone who fearlessly faced down that godlike presence, whereas she had been borderline hysterical with fear.

She reluctantly let go of Touma, her arms falling to her sides helplessly. Seiri cast her head down, no longer able to meet the serious boy's gaze.

Touma's eyes softened at her downcast expression. "You don't have to worry about this misfortunate Kamijou-san. I might not be lucky at the best of times, but it won't go to the point where I'll trigger an unstoppable death flag." He finished, taking a page out of Aogami's book.

"...What about that _thing_, though?" Fukiyose asked again, desperate to at least get _one_ answer out of Kamijou. "Is it responsible for the way your luck goes?" Up until she'd been in the presence of It, Fukiyose had always been sure that fortune was just an excuse that lazy people used to dictate their lives. But when she felt the powerful alien force, Seiri wondered if maybe that _thing_ could exist, why not fortune itself?

Touma frowned and cupped his chin in a contemplative gesture. The Invisible Thing was a complex, yet simple being and explaining It or anything involving It could easily cause headaches. He decided to just go with something that would be purposely vague, but still sate her curiosity.

He shrugged, a sheepish look on his face. "It isn't the entire reason, but It _did_ have some involvement." Hopefully, she wouldn't ask any further questions. The school day was almost over and Touma just wanted to go home, flop down on his couch, and turn on his television to watch something that would leave his mind muddled. He didn't care what was going to come on as long as it was sufficiently distracting.

Fukiyose mulled over the answer with a frown. She sighed, capitulating to Kamijou's stubborn secret-keeping ways. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get any answers unless the situation had somehow turned dire enough. Seiri felt another question come up, remembering the odd occurrence that had happened a while ago.

"Kamijou… did… did you have something to do with that weird stuff happening a few nights ago?" She inquired reluctantly. Touma's eyes widened, as she unknowingly hit the bullseye. He didn't want to know what the Iron Wall Girl would do if she found out he had been the cause of it.

"…." Kamijou remained quiet, completely unwilling to vocalize an answer. Seeing this, Fukiyose again wondered just _what_ kind of mess Kamijou Touma managed to involve himself in. Her face scrunched up, still wanting to ask more questions.

"…You don't have to answer." Seiri said despondently. Touma sagged a little in relief and felt guilty at the turmoil he had inadvertently put the girl through. While she could be bossy and judgmental at times, Fukiyose Seiri was ultimately a kind person with the best intentions at heart.

"Fukiyose," He spoke, making the girl hum in confirmation that she had heard him. Touma gave her a reassuring smirk. "Don't think that something like an explosion will keep me down. I'll still come back with my head up and misfortune following on my heels." He needed to say _something_ like to assure the girl that he wouldn't be pushing up daisies anytime soon.

She blushed at how serious his words were. Fukiyose knew that when Kamijou was motivated (Which she had previously thought was a once-in-a-blue-moon event), he was a force to be reckoned with. Seiri shook her head, trying to make the cool the heat on her face.

The Iron Wall Girl gave Kamijou a stern look. "W-Well, make sure that you do that. I won't forgive you if you don't give your maximum effort!" She 'hmphed' and turned away, leaving Touma to chuckle at her words.

Both of the high schoolers blinked as they heard the school bell ringing, announcing the end of the day. They were startled by how fast time had gone by with their awkward conversation. Kamijou stood up first and offered a hand to Fukiyose, who took it reluctantly and moved herself up as well.

"Sorry that I couldn't give any more answers." Kamijou apologized sheepishly. The girl waved it off, still blushing. "D-Don't worry about it. I should've been more understanding."

Touma sighed at how the school day had gone. "See you later, Fukiyose." Seiri nodded, wanting to stay behind for a bit to think about the answers he had given her.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

When Kamijou Touma had come home, he had not expected another magician to be waiting patiently while sitting on his couch.

'_At least he's polite_,' Touma thought mirthfully, remembering the well-mannered greeting of the man with the slicked back green hair.

"Thank you for the refreshment," The impeccably dressed man said, having drunk some of the juice that Kamijou offered.

Aureolus Izzard had been expecting many different things when he had heard about the boy who had 'cured' Index Librorum Prohibitorum of her need to have her memories erased. He did _not_ expect, however, a tired-looking boy with strangely spiky hair. All in all, the boy –Kamijou, his name was?- looked completely harmless.

But while his physical senses could fool him, his instincts couldn't.

He could feel every fiber of his magically-aware being telling him that this boy was a dangerous entity. Aureolus was still having a hard time believing that his instincts were telling him that Kamijou had enough power to make even someone like Kanzaki Kaori look like an amateur magician. A small part of him (It was often the cowardly part, though.) was telling him quite plainly to 'play it safe or you're unequivocally _screwed_.'

"Y'know, I wasn't expecting another magician to enter the city after that whole mess with Index." Kamijou muttered. The holder of 103,000 grimoires and her caretakers had been discharged a few days and disappeared to parts unknown. Whether they left back to England or remained camouflaged in Academy City was none of Touma's concern as long as they were safe and happy.

"Is it true that you had helped Index with her memory problems?" Aureolus asked bluntly, not wanting to beat around the bush. Kamijou blinked twice and nodded wordlessly. Izzard processed the confirmation and felt a bit… He wasn't exactly sure whether it was jealousy at the fact that he didn't have any part in saving Index or selfish anger at not being the one to save her. The alchemist _could_ safely say that has quite miffed at the nonchalant way that Kamijou had answered.

"…How?! I've been searching for _years_ to find a safe way for the girl to not have her memories erased!" Aureolus yelled, bordering on hysterics as Touma watched the man with a slight amount of boredom. "You're just telling me that you somehow bypassed her defenses, weathered the power of a hundred and three _thousand_ tomes of mystical eldritch power, and saved her just like _that_!?" He snapped his fingers incredulously for emphasis.

"Yup." Touma confirmed bluntly, making Izzard drop his jaw and _stare_ at Kamijou like he had suddenly grown a second head. The spiky-haired boy in question was still just contentedly sipping his mango nectar, purposely ignoring the look that the alchemist was sending him.

"…Fine. I give up. It's already good enough to know that Index is safe." Aureolus said, sagging into the couch. Before, his posture had been immaculate and showing no fatigue whatsoever. After hearing the mind-boggling information, he just looked like a tired man who finally had a large burden lifted off his shoulders.

"….How is she, by the way?" He inquired quietly. Touma tilted his head at the man's question and attitude before deciding to answer. "Well, she was just a bit exhausted after I destroyed …. whatever the hell it was that made her act like that. I don't know where Index is right now, though. Kanzaki and Stiyl just disappeared with her." He shrugged as he said the last part. Kamijou could track them down easily enough, but he felt that they already went through enough misfortune.

Izzard nodded at his answer. He knew well enough about the two magicians and their connection to Index. They would keep her safe, that much he could feel. But now here was the hard part….

"…Kamijou, I have a favor to ask." The alchemist requested. The boy raised an eyebrow and motioned him to continue. "I have a girl in my care. Her name is Himegami Aisa. Would you lend your ear?"

"…Meh, I don't see why not." He acquiesced, gratifying Aureolus. The green-haired man proceeded to explain Himegami's circumstances.

"She is one of you …..espers?" He probed, still unfamiliar with the scientific term. Touma confirmed his pseudo-question. "Her ability, however, is….. odd."

Kamijou's eyes narrowed as the alchemist trailed off awkwardly. "Odd in what way?"

"She can kill vampires." He forced himself to admit it. If Kamijou had managed to help Index with her memory, Himegami's dilemma should be a cake-walk.

"…..Does this mean vampires exist?" Touma questioned blandly. He had encountered a Saint, most of the Level 5's, and even a werewolf, but never a vampire before.

'_Really, what's next, demons?_' Kamijou thought sarcastically. He paused his train of thought for a moment. '_…Yeah, probably. It's only a matter of time with my luck._'

"Yes, yes it does." Aureolus confirmed before continuing to elaborate. "Aisa's ability, Deep Blood, attracts vampires to her, but her blood is in actuality very poisonous once they drink it. I've managed to suppress the effects by bestowing upon her a Walking Church, but I sometimes feel like it's not enough." He grimaced. The alchemist did not want to imagine what would happen if the something happened to the Walking Church and it turned out that he was the reason that vampires somehow managed to find their way into the city.

"So, let me get this straight," Touma started. "You're taking care of a girl whose power is basically being poisonous vampire bait," The green-haired man nodded. "You gave her a holy item that is equivalent to an anti-army fortress in the shape of clothing to keep her safe," Another nod. "And you still think it's not enough." Kamijou finished. The man nodded again.

"…What do you want _me_ to do?" The spiky-haired boy pointed to himself, unable to understand what Izzard wanted him to do.

"I need you to look after her and teach her the ways of this city." The man in the white suit answered smoothly. Touma nodded slowly, thinking over the task.

"…Why me?" Kamijou asked. Aureolus stopped at that, thinking over the answer in his head. "Because you saved Index when I could not."

Touma blinked and tilted his head at the admission. Izzard continued his reasoning. "I have to travel all over the world while researching about alchemy. I don't believe it's a very healthy environment for a teenage girl to be spending all her time in laboratories with dangerous and questionable materials."

The spiky-haired boy had to agree with that. While alchemy did sound intriguing, he doubted that the girl would enjoy it. There was also her ability possibly endangering her in a destructive work environment. Gluttonous vampires and alchemy laboratories seemed like a mixture that was bound to explode.

"So will you accept?" Aureolus questioned pensively, warily waiting for Kamijou's answer.

"Okay." Touma accepted easily. Izzard still looked pensive and talk further. "Listen, Aisa really is having troub-… Wait, did you just say 'okay'?"

"Yeah, I said 'okay', is there something wrong?" The dark-haired boy asked, curious to know what the man had to say further. Izzard had a befuddled look on his face while he was still processing how _easy_ Kamijou Touma had accepted his plea.

"That's it? 'Okay'? You're not going to ask for compensation or anything of the like?" The man with the slicked-back hair was confused. Very hopelessly confused.

'_Was it really _that_ easy?_' Izzard thought with incredulity running through him.

"I already have as much money as I need." Touma rejected airily. "Besides, knowing that I was able to help someone is enough for me." And it really was. There were times when for all the power he held in his grasp, Kamijou knew that the only thing that needed to be done for one to help others was to reach out their hand.

Izzard was quiet after that, still going over the boy's answer and reasoning in his head. He came to a conclusion. "Kamijou Touma, you are a very strange person, you know that, right?"

Touma's face turned grumpy as he answered. "Oi, it's not like I chose to be this way." Being reminded that he was not normal still made him slightly grouchy. He frowned, remembering something. "What's your name, anyway?"

"Aureolus Izzard." The now-identified alchemist finally greeted, sticking out his hand for Kamijou to shake. The spiky-haired boy accepted it with a greeting of his own.

"I am in your debt, Kamijou Touma." The man said with a slight bow and walked towards the door leading out of Touma's apartment. "I shall see myself on the way out. Thank you for your assistance. I will have Aisa transferred to your school promptly. But…"

He turned around suddenly, leveling a stern glare at Kamijou. "If you hurt Aisa in any way, there will be hell to pay." Izzard turned once again and finally left.

Touma groaned tiredly, rubbing his temples to stop the throbbing headache from taking place. He had just come back from school and he was _already_ getting a death threat. The spiky-haired boy flopped down on his couch, now able to lie down entirely after the alchemist's departure.

'_That's it, I'm going to the park._' Touma thought tiredly. '_A walk and some fresh air will be good for this tired and misfortunate Kamijou-san._'

He forced himself off his couch with a dissatisfied grunt. One change of clothes later, and Kamijou Touma headed to the park.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

'_Is it going to be a recurring theme that I'm going to be apprehended today!?_' Kamijou shouted internally, wondering how the _hell_ he had managed to run into the Railgun at a park.

He'd simply gone to a vending machine that seemed suspiciously familiar before trying to buy some juice. Unfortunately, Touma remembered just _which_ vending machine it was after it finally ate his money. After a few minutes of trying _and_ failing to calm down, Kamijou had finally snapped and was preparing to smash the damnable thing to pieces before lightning suddenly flew at him.

He'd ignored the lightning as it dispelled mere inches from striking him. Touma had a distinctly paranoid feeling that something like that would happen, so he'd spread the Imagine Breaker over his entire body. When he'd turned his head, he finally found a certain grinning middle-school girl sparking with electricity. The grin, however, was more like the expression that a cat would make when it finally caught a particularly pesky mouse.

"You're not getting away this time." Misaka Mikoto grinned, making Touma see an image of a leering predator temporarily overlapping her. She was _not_ going to take her chances when she finally found him again. It seemed like every time she looked somewhere other than him, he'd disappear within seconds.

'_Seriously, he's like a ninja when he does that!_' Mikoto thought, remembering all the times he'd managed to evade her attempts for a proper duel. The confrontation they had on the bridge didn't count in her eyes. In a duel, two people were supposed to put forth their best effort.

The problem was that he never actually _did_ put forth his best effort. It seemed like he just regarded her as a nuisance, which further added to her anger and frustration. She was one of the only seven Level 5's in the city. Finding out that there was some boy running around saying that he was _just_ a Level 0 when he could take her Railgun was, quite frankly, making her pissed off.

"Such misfortune. What is it _now_, Biri Biri?" The instigator of her ire stated with clear irritation in his tone. Her electricity only became more powerful at Kamijou's words. Touma tilted his head, leaning to the right a bit to look behind Misaka at the person who suddenly walked up behind the Electromaster.

Kamijou brightened as he recognized who she was. "Good afternoon, Shokuhou-san." He greeted with a wave of his right hand, startling Mikoto out of her excitement for another chance at a duel to see if it really was Mental Out.

Shokuhou Misaki gave a small pout at the way Touma spoke her name. "Touma, how many times have I told you to call me Misaki-chan?" She inquired. Kamijou responded without a pause.

"Seven hundred and fifty six times if my memory isn't failing me." Both Level 5's blinked incredulously at the statement. Misaka was confused at how that enigmatic boy knew Mental Out, but it was overwhelmed by other news.

'_Ha, I finally got part of his name!_" Mikoto thought victoriously. Now that she knew at least part of his name, it would be easier to track him down for another duel. 'Touma' was not a very common name whatsoever, and that made matters even easier.

Misaki, on the other hand, was still wondering whether or not she had really asked Kamijou to call her Misaki-chan _that_ many times. "….H-Has it really been that many times?" She asked reluctantly with an embarrassed blush on her face, scratching her cheek sheepishly with one glove-covered hand.

"Nope, I just gave a random big number to screw with your heads." Touma deadpanned bluntly. The girls stumbled a bit at the shameless admission that the older boy had just given.

"A-Anyway, how do you know Shokuhou?" Misaka asked tiredly, her sanity becoming rather strained by the antics of Kamijou Touma.

Kamijou scratched his head sheepishly at her words and looked back at the vending machine that had mercilessly eaten his money. He narrowed his eyes as his attitude became serious, causing chills to go up the girls' spines at his sudden change.

He turned to face the machine, the tension around him palpable. Touma raised a hand and performed an action that heavily confused and shocked Mikoto and Misaki.

His hand plunged forward, impaling the machine up to the wrist. Both of the girls watching him were terrified at seeing how easily he had stabbed through the metal. The spiky-haired boy pulled his hand out and opened it, revealing the money that the vending machine had taken from him.

Touma smiled and breathed out a sigh in relief, pocketing the cash. He was completely uncaring of the alarm that went off from the machine.

He glanced at Misaka Mikoto and Misaki Shokuhou, who were gaping wordlessly at his spontaneous actions.

Touma blinked, confused by their expression.

"What? Did I do something weird?"

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Holy _crap_, that took a while.

More plot deviations!

Index's controller is broken because Touma did something weird with the Imagine Breaker when he flicked the back of her head. Laura is just going 'Oh Crap.' at this. Alyssa Crowley is observing and planning. Fukiyose finally has her talk with Touma. Aureolus makes an appearance, but Deep Blood Arc isn't happening. He's acting like an overprotective papa to Himegami.

We didn't really get much stuff from that Arc besides Himegami, and she is barely ever mentioned anymore.

Misaki Shokuhou makes her first appearance and Misaka is very confused. Meanwhile, Touma gets pissed and gets his money back. Oh! And we find out that Kamijou inadvertently traumatised Kakine and Mugino.

I think that's just about it. If you haven't seen the changes in Touma and Index's dialogue, then I recommend you do so. The changes are at the last section of Chapter 5 and after the fight scene in Chapter 6.

If you have any questions, then leave them in a review or PM me.

That's all for now-Loopsey


	8. Reprieve of the Sisters

Pre-Chapter Notes: Hello there, readers. I come to deliver yet another chapter of this AU story. Time to answer reviews.

Review-Answering Segment:

Saitama (I see what you did with the name there.): Well, you will just have to read regarding the Sisters Arc. This chapter might shock you a bit.

fuu: Oh, I intend to show more of Touma's interaction with other characters.

Encendrel: If you liked the developments in the last chapter, you will probably also like this one.

ADdude: You're going to have to read if you want to know what I'm going to do with Accelerator in the Sisters Arc. And I hope I handled this chapter well, too.

the DragonBard: I know about the real life Aleister Crowley and his appearance. But I prefer not to think about that. If you dislike the genderbending I did, then you don't have to read any further. It was nice enough of you to leave a review that politely expressed your opinion.

*End Segment*

Now that the answering is done…..

On with the chapter!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma looked on in confusion at the baffled faces of both Misaka Mikoto and Shokuhou Misaki. He was wondering why, exactly, they staring at him like he had done something completely strange. So, Touma asked.

"What? Did I do something weird?" The spiky-haired boy questioned. The Level 5's were partially snapped out of their shock as he voiced his question.

"Erm…well, it's not every day that you see some random person just tear through metal with their bare hands." Shokuhou answered meekly. She knew a tiny bit about Touma's abilities and physical prowess from various sources of footage that had been caught on one of Academy City's many surveillance cameras, but it was still shocking to see it in real time.

Misaki had tried to learn a bit more by delving into the boy's mind itself, but that proved to be a near-fatal mistake. She shuddered imperceptibly, remembering that _thing_ that had stopped her from actually seeing any of Touma's more relevant memories. Luckily, Kamijou himself had been there to stop It from doing anything that would leave her mentally scarred, but the experience had been terrifying. After that incident, the interaction between them had grown a bit awkward.

"…..Y'know what, I give up." Misaka grumbled irritably, palming her forehead at Kamijou's nonchalant attitude. Although, she made a note to be careful not to anger him, or else he might turn those steel-impaling hands on her. If the boy could do that to steel, the implications of what would happen to human flesh and bones were chilling.

"Anyway, how do you know Shokuhou?" The Railgun asked again, resolved to at least get _that_ question answered.

'_But then again_,' Mikoto considered. '_If he knows me, then why not the other Level 5's? And how many of them?_' If that spiky-haired idiot knew Meltdowner or Accelerator, then she could understand why he thought her electricity could be a nuisance. While she attacked him on an almost weekly basis with some harmless attacks that she knew he could dodge (Seriously, how was he able to move faster than _lightning?_) or nullify (Mikoto was starting to think that _maybe_ the crazy idiot had not been misleading her when he had said that his right hand stopped esper powers from working), the Number Four and One would not hesitate to try and kill him.

"Ah, Shokuhou-san? We met a few years back." He answered shortly, ignoring Mental Out's pouty face again.

"We 'met a few years back'? That's how you see our bond, Touma?" Misaki questioned in a faux-sad tone. Kamijou turned a deadpan stare on her, making the girl look uncomfortable.

"Is there really more explaining?" The older boy asked.

"Yes! You helped me from those delinquents, for one. And…." Shokuhou trailed off, before starting with more enthusiasm in her voice. "You made me cake!" Her voice was bordering on a delighted squeal.

"….. I find it hard to believe that a Level 5 would have trouble with some random thugs." Misaka refuted doubtfully, leveling a skeptical stare at Shokuhou. She knew that Mental Out could often be a devious and cunning person, but at the moment, she was still fishing for more details about how 'Touma' knew another Level 5.

"This was before I became a Level 5, Misaka-san." The blonde explained herself, waving a glove-covered hand languidly. "I believe that I was….Level 2? Is that right, Touma?" She turned to where Kamijou was to confirm her question, but did a double-take at what she saw.

He wasn't there anymore.

"Oh what the hell!? How does he _do_ that!?" Misaka yelled, angry at herself for once again letting an opportunity to fight the strange boy slip through her fingers. After their last encounter, the Electromaster had grown even more curious about the enigmatic boy. Not even the consolation prize of knowing part of his name would soothe her agitation.

Her right eye twitched, and her form became engulfed in sparks as she turned to the reason for his disappearance. Said reason was still gawking at the spot where the spiky-haired boy was disappeared from. Misaka didn't really want to blame her for being shocked (The Railgun had done it enough times herself in her first few encounters with the boy.), but she was still very irritated.

"Youuuuu," Misaka growled through her gritting teeth. Shokuhou blinked and looked at her, gaining a wary expression at the electricity that was coming off of her. She raised an eyebrow and simply said, "Me what?"

"It was your fault that he got away!" Mikoto shouted, pointing an accusing finger at the sheepish blonde. Shokuhou gave a nervous chuckle at her accusing words. She had been so excited at seeing Kamijou again that she completely forgotten about the potential danger that the Railgun posed. Misaki composed herself. Showing weakness would make her easy prey.

A Level 5 was _not_ easy prey.

"Might I remind you, that _you_ are the one who asked the question that distracted both of us and let him get away." Misaki refuted smoothly. This statement caused the Railgun to give an 'urk' and take a step back, her electricity having disappeared. Misaka refused to meet Mental Out's sharp stare, not wanting to acknowledge her own part in making Kamijou get away.

Her eyes widened as she saw a carbon copy of herself with the add-on of military-issued night-vision goggles walk calmly down the stairs toward Shokuhou and her. As this was going on, Shokuhou was also staring with a mild expression of shock and trepidation at seeing a second Misaka Mikoto (Albeit with a strange expression on her face.) arrives.

'_Oh God, there's _two_ of them!?_' Mental Out thought incredulously. One Railgun was already bad enough with her aggravating behavior. But two? Misaki was slightly tempted to use her political power as a Level 5 to get transferred out of Tokiwadai and into Touma's high school. It wouldn't be that hard, considering her intelligence _and_ she got to be around Kamijou more.

Shokuhou's train of thought froze as the idea of transferring to the same school as Kamijou Touma finally sunk in. There were even more benefits as well. First, she could pull strings to get herself in the same class and _maybe_ the seat next to Kamijou, so she could be close to him for almost the entire school day. Second, she wouldn't have to deal with Misaka Mikoto at the school for a few years, and by the time the Railgun might actually come to that specific school, she would already establish herself as a major power in the social hierarchy.

It was the perfect plan!

"Brilliant, Misaki, absolutely brilliant!" Mental Out thought out loud excitedly as she broke into haughty laughter, completely missing the strange looks she got from the identical Railgun girls.

As this was going on, Shirai Kuroko had just arrived via teleportation to see who had vandalized the vending machine. She sent a complex look at the blonde girl, who was still laughing for some reason that she could never fathom, before turning her gaze over to a sight that made her jaw drop. Drool started to dribble down the side of her face as she deemed the sight before her to be 'most glorious'.

'_Two Onee-samas!_' Kuroko squealed internally, still staring with reverence at the two Railgun girls.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma felt a chill go up his spine as he walked back to his apartment after successfully getting away from both the Railgun and Mental Out. He had to move away from the two Level 5's and the vending machine that he had liberated his money from or something troubling would happen. Every time he met two or more Level 5's in the same location, it seemed like a misfortunate event would take place.

He had already traumatized both Dark Matter and Meltdowner (Not willingly, but he still felt guilty.). And there was also that one time when both Sogiita Gunha and Mugino Shizuri had met him in the same location. He'd managed to launch Attack Crash halfway across the city before he did anything that would cause collateral damage, but Touma was still slightly disturbed by Meltdowner's reaction upon seeing him after he traumatized her. Kamijou had expected her turning pale, shivering, even screaming in terror and running away.

But he had _not_ expected her to blush and stutter like a school girl (Well, technically, she _was_ still a school girl.) with a crush. Mugino had seemed both nervous and _delighted_ (!?) about seeing him again. Touma had thought up several different ways about how she could be like that after he had shown a glimpse of his terrifying power to her, but only one answer came up and he absolutely _refused_ to acknowledge it.

'_There is no way in hell that a trigger-happy laser-shooting S-type character can actually be an M!_' Kamijou thought forcefully, trying to shunt the image of Mugino Shizuri being _shy_ (The sheer implications that were brought on by this thought made him want to snap and just destroy everything in sight with his powers.) from his mind.

Touma blinked, his thoughts being cleared, as he saw a girl in a Japanese priestess outfit standing outside his apartment door. His brow furrowed as he felt a holy aura coming off of the clothes that the long-haired girl was wearing. Just because she looked out of place, however, didn't mean that he couldn't give her a well-mannered greeting.

"Hey there." Kamijou greeted with a casual wave of the hand, trying to make himself look easy-going so that he wouldn't make her distrust him. The girl turned and perked up a bit upon recognizing the boy who spoke to her.

"Hello, Kamijou-san." The girl said quietly, politely returning Kamijou's greeting. The boy nodded at her, his guess on who she was being confirmed.

"Did Izzard-san tell you where my apartment was, Himegami-san?" Touma asked, moving to open his door.

The now-identified Himegami Aisa nodded. Touma gave a nondescript hum and simply said, "Okay then. Do you want to come in for something to drink? I guess you might be thirsty after trying to find my apartment in this nutty city." Aisa blinked at his offer, before quietly accepting and following him inside his home.

"Welcome to my humble abode. Take a seat wherever you like." Touma said as he moved toward the kitchen to grab some juice for himself and Himegami. The long-haired girl sat down on the couch quietly, looking around Kamijou's apartment curiously.

Kamijou Touma's apartment just looked like any teenage boy's apartment with all its features. Although it was mostly tidy, she could see a few textbooks from the school she was about to attend, some manga, and even the occasional light novel or two.

So why was it her care-taker, Aureolus Izzard, was so wary of the boy? Himegami had been very grateful when he had found and taken her in after that terrifying experience she had suffered with the vampires. They never actually managed to harm her, but it had left her waking up from the occasional nightmare even now.

"Here you go." Touma said, holding out a chilled glass of apple juice with his left hand for Himegami to take. Snapping out of her thoughts, Aisa accepted it with a gracious 'Thank you.' and gave a small sip. He hunkered down next to her and took a heavy gulp of his own glass, having become parched from how nerve-wracking the day had been.

He began to survey how his day went. First, he woke up and went to school, only to have an awkward conversation with Fukiyose. After that had been done, almost every male student was looking at him like he was some type of terrifying monster who just came straight out of a horror movie.

Later on, Kamijou met and spoke with Aureolus Izzard, who had petitioned him to look after Himegami in the first place. However, he still got a none-too-subtle death threat from the magician, who had acted like an overprotective father who was polishing his shotgun.

Finally, Touma had met two Level 5's, one of which tried to electrocute him and the other who had tried to read his mind once in the past (Though she _did_ apologize after he got her out).

Kamijou Touma could only sum it up as one thing.

'_This has been a really misfortunate day_,' Kamijou groaned in a depressed manner as he let his face descend into his hands, not noticing the small look of concern that Himegami had sent him upon hearing the tired sound. While he was behaving in an unorthodox manner, Aisa was wondering why she suddenly wanted to give the unlucky boy a hug and tell him that everything would be alright.

Himegami reached out a tentative hand and gave the spiky-haired boy some soft pats on the back, saying in a quiet voice, "There, there." Touma's dejected face came up and sent a tired smile to the long-haired girl, causing her face to heat up.

"It's alright, Himegami-san. I'm just having a tough day." Kamijou excused feebly, somehow making Aisa feel even more sympathy for him trying to hide his dejected expression with a smile.

'_That's a really nice smile…._' The long-haired girl thought idly as she found that she was still patting Kamijou's back. Aisa quickly retreated her hand, the blush on her face becoming even redder.

Touma blinked as he watched Himegami's rapidly reddening face, his own concern for the soon-to-be-student rising. "Are you alright, Himegami?" He asked, dropping the honorific and touching a hand to the girl's forehead to assess her temperature. That only served to make Aisa's face become as red as a tomato, as she was being continually flustered by Kamijou's behavior.

"You're burning up. Let me get some ice for that." The dark-haired boy announced, as he finally moved away and went to the kitchen to find the ice pack. Himegami gave a small breath of relief, trying to lower the speed of her heart beat.

"W-Wait!" Aisa shouted, accidentally raising the volume of her voice. Having been startled, Touma looked back at her with concern. "Y-You don't need to get me an ice pack. I-I'm just a bit jet-lagged and tired." She excused meekly. Kamijou was still slightly worried, but decided to look at the clock to find out what time it was.

'_It's already that late?_' Touma thought with a tiny bit of shock. He thought about the day he had. '_Well, I guess it's no wonder with all the stuff happening one after another._'

"I-I'll just be going now. Thank you for the hospitality, Kamijou-san." Himegami stuttered as she rose and gave a shaky bow, her blush now smaller than before. She walked shakily over to the door, refusing to make eye contact with the spiky-haired boy.

Touma moved over to the door, opening it wide. Himegami gave him a sound of thanks and left. After closing it, Kamijou sighed and once again flung himself bodily onto the soft couch.

'_Oh man, I'm so glad I got this couch,_' Touma thought, reveling in the softness of the couch's cushions.

Then he heard his phone ring, and made some serious contemplating about destroying the boundaries of the various dimensions so that he could track down and _end_ the supernatural being that was responsible for his absolutely chaotic luck.

Groaning, Touma reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out the infernal thing that was interrupting his rest. He flipped it open and spoke to the person calling without looking at the Caller ID.

"Hello?" Kamijou greeted wearily while shifting into a more comfortable position to lie down on the couch. His eyes narrowed as the other person on the phone began to relay information to him in a panicked manner, as if they were danger.

"What!?" He shouted, all of his weariness gone as he heard the alarming news from the person calling him. "Where are you guys right now?"

He made frantic nods as he heard the exact location that was frantically described to him. Touma heard some panicked screams and crackling sounds as the connection was lost.

"Damnit." Kamijou growled. "What the hell kind of mess did Misaki and the others get into?"

He shook his head to clear his mind, preparing for yet another fight. This time the battle would be of an entirely different caliber if what he had heard was correct.

Touma cracked his neck and flexed his fingers to make sure he didn't get any cramps. That possibility was still likely despite his overwhelming power.

"Considering what's happened before, I guess I'm overdue for a meeting with the Number One." Kamijou muttered darkly, setting out to the location that was being used as the current testing grounds of the Level 6 Shift Project.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Shokuhou Misaki groaned and blearily opened her eyes. After calling the one person that she knew could fix their dilemma, that monstrously powerful Accelerator had caused an explosion to occur at the location of her, Misaka Mikoto, and that Level 4 teleporter girl, Shirai Kuroko.

The teleporter in question had her back pressed to the metallic side of the container, having been slammed into it by Accelerator's explosion. She was gritting her teeth at the pain, knowing that she had likely fractured or even broken a fair share of bones upon impact.

When Kuroko had seen the 'most glorious' sight of two Misaka Mikotos, she had gotten a bit too excited and had gone to greet them in her own special way. Her special way, of course, was a vigorous lunge. And after making contact with a hug, Kuroko had tried to grope the identical girls.

The keyword was 'tried'. The Mikoto without goggles had quickly electrocuted her without preamble in the middle of her lunge. But that was not the important part

All in all, Shirai never thought that her 'Onee-sama' had been tricked into giving her DNA for such a vile experiment that was made to achieve the theoretical Level 6. When she'd seen the bloody corpse of the goggled Misaka, Kuroko had all but emptied the contents of her stomach while trying to understand the _who_ and _how_ of why such a despicable murder could happen.

The truth still terrified her to the core.

Finding out that the Strongest Esper was at the center of the experiment, Kuroko had wondered why the legendary Accelerator would need more power than he already had. Voicing this question to the albino himself was what set him off to create the explosion.

She looked through a pained wince at the Railgun, who was still standing despite the damage she had taken. She was panting with small sparks of electricity coming off her form, the 100032nd clone of her lying in the gravel behind her unconscious.

Opposite to the brunette was a thin albino boy with a thin and blood-thirsty smirk on his face. This youth was the Number One esper in Academy City, Accelerator. His Vector Manipulation ability was so beyond the other Level 5's that it seemed like he could take them all on and come out of the battle victorious and without a scratch.

"Is that all?" Accelerator mocked the Railgun, having easily deflected her electricity, Shokuhou's mind control, and Kuroko's needles with an absurd ease.

When Misaka Mikoto, Shokuhou Misaki (She couldn't exactly leave them in this mess without assisting in some way after hearing the circumstances.), and Shirai Kuroko had engaged him in battle, they had stood no chance whatsoever. Not even the power of two experienced Level 5's and a Level 4 could stand against the Strongest.

But they still had to do _something_ to prevent the bloodshed of the innocent clones.

"I-I'm not done yet." Mikoto grunted, almost staggering in place from her struggles to land a hit on the white-haired boy.

Then a certain familiar voice rang out in the clearing, making everybody turn their heads.

"Y'know, when Shokuhou-san had called me, I wasn't expecting any of this nutty clone nonsense." Kamijou Touma commented in a carefree manner as he emerged from the shadows of one of the metallic containers. "I was a bit more surprised at hearing about the Strongest being involved in this crap. So, tell me.

"Why the _fuck_ are twenty thousand innocent girls being slaughtered for some inane theory that might not even be true?" Kamijou growled out his question, leveling a venomous glare that chilled Accelerator to the bone. It almost made him take a step back at the sheer anger being expressed on the mysterious spiky-haired boy's face.

Almost.

Accelerator had grown up near the Kihara family and his sanity was barely kept intact after the torturous training he had gone through to develop his vector manipulating abilities. This also included his common sense and respect for his fellow human being, considering the various people over his earlier years that tried to kill him.

He sneered, thinking that the boy was just going to be another sheep being sent to the slaughter. "Ho? Did one of these bitches send for some back-up?" He looked back at the Railgun and the other three downed espers. The albino snorted before turning back the dark-haired boy

"Well…. I guess it's just another win to add to my streak!" Accelerator screamed while lunging forward at incredible speeds. His hands were reaching out as he planned to reverse the idiotic boy's blood flow with his bare hands, just like he had done to that last clone he'd killed.

Kamijou remained undeterred, even when he was assaulted by the massive killer intent of the Strongest. In his eyes, Accelerator's speed might as well have matched the pace of a snail. He raised his left hand and…..

A sickening crack rang out in the clearing with both Kamijou and Accelerator feeling shock at what happened. When Touma had backhanded the stretched out hands reaching for him, his shoulder had been dislocated in the process. This had been the first time he'd been injured to that extent by any type of esper attack in the history of his stay at Academy City.

Accelerator was starting to wonder who the _hell_ this crazy bastard was. He had not only knocked aside his hands, the blood flow of the boy had not been reversed at all with the only damage being a bone dislocation. In his entire life, the only person who could get past his vector field had been Amata Kihara, and that had been after painstaking hours of research to discover the exact moment to pull back his attack so that it would make contact with Accelerator.

But this boy had done it within _seconds_ of meeting him.

It angered Accelerator.

He was angered at the fact that through all of his suffering in this damnable scientific hell hole, there was still somebody stronger. That was the only way to explain what the spiky-haired boy had just done. In his earlier and more idealistic years, the albino had always secretly hoped that someone stronger would come along and become the Number One so that he wouldn't have to. He had hoped that a Hero would come to save him.

But a Hero never came. And so, the ideals and hopes of Accelerator perished as his view of the world became jaded and cynical.

And then this boy, this _asshole_, just waltzed right on in and deflected _him_. He was the Strongest, he was the one who should be doing the deflecting.

To sum it up, Accelerator was _pissed off_.

"…. ill … ou." Accelerator muttered, visibly shuddering. His shaggy white bangs shadowed his red eyes as his lips were drawn back, showing his gritting teeth. Kamijou frowned at the other boy's quiet words.

Accelerator's head snapped up, his face contorted in wrath as he lunged forward again.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" The angered albino roared, going even faster than before.

Touma once again stood his ground and pulled back his right hand which was bunched into a fist. When Accelerator was close enough to touch him, Kamijou let the Imagine Breaker loose.

His right fist mercilessly slammed into Accelerator's abdomen, easily dispelling the thin layer of AIM that coated the albino's body and allowed him to use his ability. Accelerator's eyes bulged in surprise before his face shifted into a wince at the horrifying pain engulfing his entire body. All of the air left his lungs in a huge breath of air as his body nearly bent in half from Kamijou's brutal attack.

He was lifted off the ground, being held up only by Touma's fist. The albino dry-heaved a bit before his eyes rolled into the back of his head. His body went limp as it was still being lifted by Kamijou. Accelerator was knocked unconscious by Touma's punch.

The barely conscious girls could barely believe what they had just seen. Misaka and Shokuhou were gaping minutely as the boy had just completed what they had been seeking in a matter of seconds. Kuroko was wondering how powerful Kamijou's nullification ability was if it could get past the Number One's Reflection ability. She had heard the talk about him in Judgment, but never really paid much attention to them.

Upon waking, Misaka 10032 had not been expecting to see some anonymous person strike Accelerator and force him into unconsciousness. She had been merely another stepping stone on the ladder to the coveted Level 6. And now all she could wonder was 'why'. 10032 could only wonder why the stranger had saved her.

Kamijou flung aside the unconscious body of Accelerator and turned to the girls. His expression softened as he gave a brief once-over to the various injuries on their bodies.

"Are all of you alright?" Touma asked, completely ignoring his dislocated left shoulder.

"A-Aren't you the one who needs help right now?" Mikoto couldn't resist snarking as she pointed a shaky and hurting finger towards Kamijou's limp and motionless shoulder. Touma looked over at it and tilted his head, sighing.

He brought his right fist up and slammed it into his left arm in such a way that it popped the bones back in place with a squelching sound. The girls stared at the now-uninjured shoulder in haunted fascination, having become very disturbed by the sound that it had made and the way it had contorted back into place.

"Let's get you girls to a hospital." Touma said, clapping his hands. What he did not know was that Accelerator had woken up again, albeit still feeling an incredible amount of pain.

"Although…" The spiky-haired boy started slowly, turning his head to look back at Accelerator's downed form. "I was expecting a bigger fight than that." He muttered.

"H-How?" Kuroko gasped out, still feeling pain. "How are you so strong? You made him, the one who was deemed the _Strongest_, seem so _weak_."

Upon hearing the teleporter's words, something in Accelerator's head snapped.

He had spent so many years, suffered so much pain, to become the Strongest. He had then been completely blown out of the water by the new arrival. Accelerator had been getting close. Close to his goal of becoming strong.

He wanted to become so strong that the very notion of hurting him would be considered blasphemy.

And this person had the _gall_ to consider him _weak!?_

"I-I… I'm not…." The albino growled quietly, startling Kamijou and the girls.

"I'M NOT WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKKKKKKKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!" The Strongest roared to the skies.

He brought a trembling arm up and grabbed at the vectors around him. He felt idiotic for not trying this before.

Air had movement in it. Accelerator could control any movement with his ability.

Accelerator now knew how to use the entire atmosphere as his weapon.

Strange scratching sounds came out of Accelerator as the air around him turned more turbulent. The wind picked up as it revolved around the albino who was slowly picking himself up off the ground, building up more and more power. Eventually, a large tornado roared to life, shocking the other occupants of the clearing. Metal containers, gravel, dust, and more items were picked up by the violent winds. Something else was also happening.

A distortion in the air appeared high above the testing grounds, beginning to gain a purple glow. Wind was gathering and collecting itself, compressing into something more dangerous.

A roaring, amorphous mass of plasma was being continuously formed and condensed, becoming more destructive with each passing second. It shone brightly in the night sky over the testing grounds.

Just like when he was being tempted perversely by an intoxicated Kanzaki Kaori, Kamijou Touma got another crazy idea.

Touma slowly let his body relax and jumped, ignoring the startled cries of the girls as he was picked up into the tornado. His form disappeared from their sight, fear gnawing at the girls as they watched his insane actions.

Kamijou was letting himself be inducted into the flow of the tornado before preparing to execute his crazy idea. He brought his hand up and straightened it into a chopping position. Touma delivered an impromptu karate chop that had a large amount of power behind it.

The tornado split in half at his chop, much to the disbelief of both Accelerator and the other girls. The winds had scattered in all directions, becoming completely harmless in the process. All of the items fell down after having no force to pick them up, landing a safe distance away from any people.

Kamijou looked up at the still-charging plasma storm, grimacing as he realized he would have to jump really high after touching down. But by then, Accelerator would release the energy that had gotten built up and vaporize everything in sight.

Reluctantly, Kamijou Touma decided to fly.

Adding yet _more_ shock to the observers on the ground, grey energy sprayed out of Kamijou's back and formed into seemingly avian wings.

Unlike the last time he had used his wings, a halo also materialized into existence, floating silently. The halo was going through the same effect as his wings, somehow tearing the reality around it at the seams.

Ignoring the new addition, the spiky-haired boy flew up, the energy wings flapping and making him pick up speed.

As Touma was getting closer to the plasma storm, the observers down below were having different thoughts about the strange things he was doing.

'…_I tried to fight that guy?_' Mikoto thought with shock, seeing just how outclassed she was by Kamijou. '_And what the hell is up with those wings!? I can get blocking my Railgun, but growing wings!? Seriously, is he an angel or something?_'

Shokuhou was running along a similar line of thought, only with a few minor differences. '_….Wings? Wings… That's it, either it's part of his power or he's an angel…. But he has wings!_' She squealed delightedly in her thoughts.

When he had saved her from those arrogant Level 4 Nagatenjoki students, she had thought of him as either her knight in shining armor or a guardian angel on earth. The wings he had spontaneously sprouted only made Misaki's infatuation with Kamijou Touma grow more.

'… _I think I can see why Judgment wants him now._' Kuroko deadpanned internally, having become so shocked that she frankly didn't care anymore. At first, she had only thought that he was some person that had gotten lucky enough to catch the Judgment recruiters' eyes. Then he somehow grew wings out of his back. At the moment, Shirai Kuroko was starting to feel like an idiot for not looking deeper into _why_, exactly, the law enforcement of Academy City wanted to recruit him.

But the most chaotic thoughts were occurring in Accelerator's head.

'_What are those? What are those _things?_ Those are not wings, they can't be!_' The albino thought incredulously, staring at the flapping wings on Kamijou's back. His mind had nearly had a breakdown at analyzing the matter that made up the wings.

They were just _different_. Whatever the energy was, it was violating every single law of physics that had been discovered in human history.

It was like it was from another dimension.

Accelerator's mind, which could be regarded as the most powerful organic supercomputer in the world, was going through impossibly complex calculations, trying to understand the violation of reality and science that was sprouting out of that spiky-haired boy's back.

'_What is it? What is it? What is it what is it what is it what is it? What is it!? WHAT IS THAT THING!?_' Accelerator's thoughts were becoming more and more unstable as he kept staring at the wings.

Completely ignorant to their thoughts, Touma finally neared to the dense condensation of plasma. He braced himself as he blasted the energy on his back away, the shockwave pushing him forward to the energy with blurring speed. Spreading the Imagine Breaker over his legs, Kamijou struck one of them out.

His leg struck the contained plasma storm, the Imagine Breaker interfering with the sheer condensation of AIM in the plasma. The large orb of plasma started twisting and stretching upon its development being interrupted. His leg had caused the orb to stretch the plasma into a curving shape, contorting around the appendage that struck it. Finally, the Imagine Breaker won out and the plasma storm was flung away.

Kamijou Touma had round-house kicked the plasma storm, making it fly away into the distant horizon. It detonated with a bright flash, but not damaging the city due to the distance. The exploding plasma illuminated the night, making everybody who saw the strange phenomenon cover their eyes so that they wouldn't be blinded.

Kamijou fell toward the group at the ground, all of them dumbstruck by what he had just done. He landed with a smash near the shell-shocked Accelerator, making the albino lose his balance.

Touma struck him in the face with a ruthless backhand, just _looking_ as the Strongest twirled comically in a full three-sixty motion before finally collapsing on the gravel. He was now unconscious again.

'_Hopefully, he won't get up this time._' Touma thought irritably. He didn't want to be anywhere near Accelerator when the super-powered albino woke up in a hospital bed. Kamijou looked at the other girls, only to find them just as deep into unconsciousness as the Number One.

His right eyelid twitched at the sight before him.

"Why can't I be the one going unconscious? Such misfortune." Kamijou muttered under his breath, reaching into his pocket to pull out his phone and call Heaven Canceller.

**Between The Lines**

In a dark, secluded room with holographic projectors, the Board of Directors watched the live footage before them with fear engulfing their very being. They had been sure that when they had sent both SCHOOL and ITEM after him that he wouldn't get out alive.

The politicians had shocked and terrified to hear the results of what the after-math of Kamijou's encounter with both assault teams had been. The Board of Directors had been rather wary of the boy after that.

This incident, however, turned all of the wariness they felt into pure unadulterated fear. The Strongest Esper, Accelerator, had been defeated with an absurd ease. The same Accelerator that could possibly crack the world in half had been defeated in two physical strikes.

"Do you see now?"

The voice ringing out had nearly given all of them heart attacks. They turned and saw the form of Alyssa Crowley, who had a small smile on her beautiful visage.

"The Imagine Breaker cannot simply be defeated by Accelerator. He is too strong for even all of the Level 5's together." The woman stated bluntly, further driving the stakes of fear into some of the Directors. Some of them simply wanted nothing to do with Kamijou, while others thought of him as an obstruction to their plans.

Some of the more power-hungry Directors were starting to seriously contemplate that abandoning their plans to further their influence would not be so bad.

"…No." Another voice rang out, this one being completely inhuman and casting a strange presence on the room. The Board of Directors felt chills as they recognized the Other Being that just made Its presence known.

Aiwass had somehow entered the room without even Its protégé Alyssa Crowley noticing.

"The 'Imagine Breaker', as you humans call it, was never his to begin with. His original power is much greater." Its voice echoed throughout the room ominously.

"… Then what would his original power be, then, teacher?" Alyssa questioned, despite knowing that she would not get an answer. She and the others in the dark room felt shock at the Other Being's next words.

"Hmm…. might as well give a hint. It might make things more interesting."

Aiwass liked interesting things. They made It keep Itself from killing Itself out of sheer boredom.

"Kamijou Touma is the One Who Purifies God and Exorcises the Devil." It stated with a tone of finality, before Its presence disappeared.

Upon hearing the Other Being's words, the room went silent at the implications of the statement that It had just delivered.

"….I suppose that is better than nothing." Alyssa grumbled under her breath, her usually calm and cool manner having been worn thin by her mentor. She turned to the Board of Directors and said, "Meeting dismissed."

The group was all-too-happy to vacate the room, as Alyssa's form faded back to the Windowless Building to think.

Aiwass had teased her for a _very_ long time ever since she had made her first incorrect theory on what Kamijou Touma's power was. Every single time Alyssa made a new theory, it was immediately shot down by the amused Other Being.

Frankly, the entire matter was getting on her nerves.

She sighed with defeat at the mysterious ways of her inhuman teacher. Crowley frowned, knowing that news about Accelerator's defeat would get leaked somehow. Dealing with the fallout was going to be a complete nuisance.

'_But first, Kamijou will have to go somewhere else._' Alyssa thought, coming up with several different ways on how to get the unintentionally chaotic boy out of Academy City quietly.

Then she found the perfect solution.

"It seems that dear Kamijou Touma is overdue for a vacation." Alyssa Crowley mused, her plans already set in motion.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Would you believe me if I told you that I finished this in only two sittings?

Anyway, the Sisters Arc is now concluded with just about no drama behind it. Seriously, it took six chapters for the Introductory/Index Arc, a complete skip over the Deep Blood Arc, and now this?

And I'm only done with the first three Volumes….

I suppose I should elaborate on how long this story will last.

This story will cover the expanse of the first 22 Volumes and probably some of the side-material too. I won't start on New Testament until there are more volumes.

But I have to be careful or else I might have to rewrite this entire damn thing if Kamachi delivers a big plot-changing mind screw.

Like the truth behind one of Kamijou Touma's many mysteries in canon. Or his abilities and past.

And considering New Testament 8 coming out in a few days (September 10th, to be exact), it might bring in something new for me to add.

…. And I got side-tracked from my summarizing of the chapter.

Let's see:

Touma somehow ninjas his way out of talking with Railgun and Mental Out. I gave a small bit of elaboration on how Shokuhou knows Kamijou. Touma accidentally turned Mugino into an M. I honestly just added that just for AU and to bring a new perspective to her character.

And by new perspective, I mean hilarious perspective.

I even put in some Himegami shiptease for those Himegami Aisa fans.

Kuroko and Misaki get involved in Mikoto's battle with Accelerator. They all get shocked at Touma doing Screwy Stuff and growing wings.

Touma can get damaged by Accelerator's Reflection because he didn't have the Imagine Breaker over his entire body. If you read carefully, I put his left arm as the one slapping away Accelerator's hands.

And so, add Accelerator to the list of people that can actually put injuries on my OP!Touma, right alongside a magic-using Index.

Accelerator's brain goes through the Blue Screen of Death when seeing Touma's wings. I think this would happen because he also thought that Aiwass's wings were strange. I only amped his WTF reaction Up To Eleven. And yes, I used those tropes on purpose.

My goal right now is to get this fic on the Fanfic Reccomendations on the TV Tropes page of To Aru Majutsu No Index. I don't really know if I'm getting any closer to that goal.

Please tell me what you thought of this chapter in a review and tell me if this deserves to get recommended.

I have some questions for you people to answer in your reviews, though:

Did I give decent characterization for Accelerator in this chapter?

Are my canon deviations good or bad?

Was the Misaki shiptease too much or not enough?

What's your (The reader's) opinion on me making Mugino into a closet masochist?

And finally, have I managed to keep your interest so far?

If you have any questions, leave them in a review or PM me.

Leave a review, please.

Signing off for now-Loopsey


	9. Continuance of Events

Pre-Chapter Notes: Oh man, this was one of my tougher chapters to type out, that's for sure. But whatever. I have made two changes in both Chapter 7 and 8 involving a few things. Here they are.

Changes:

Chapter 7: Touma's thoughts after being told that Vampires exist from Aureolus.

Chapter 8: Added description of Touma roundhouse kicking a plasma storm. And the reaction of Alyssa Crowley and the Board of Directors from Aiwass's hint involving Touma has been changed as well.

That's about it. To the review answering!

Review Answering Segment:

zoro99: Touma can't get away _completely_ unscathed from touching Accelerator's vectors unless he's got the Imagine Breaker up, y'know? I can't put Touma as the Number Zero Level 5 because in canon, the only reason he could get involved in Magic Side affairs was the fact that he was a Level 0 and therefore a 'nobody' compared to the other members of the Science Side.

Proxy4818: Heh, Mugino becoming an M had just been a stray fic idea in my head before I put it in this story.

tsun: That's good to know, but I'll leave the illusion breaking to the professional AKA Touma. And yes, an Awakened Accelerator without being crippled is crazy. That is exactly why I want to try it!

Serialkeller: Sorry, but I don't think I have the creativity for lemon writing. But I would not be adverse to any author who would like to write lemons for To Aru Majutsu No Index. This fic archive doesn't have enough lemons despite all of the perverse antics that Kamachi has thrown into his stories. :/

Xarserum: Thanks for the suggestions, but I already have some plans for this next Arc.

*End Segment*

First off, I'd like to give a special thanks to Kastou for being my 100th reviewer for this story of mine. I didn't think I would get this many reviews. And with that I am going to introduce the Spoilers Segment. It's basically just me giving spoilers on what's happening in the posted chapter like what Gabriel Blessing and Marcus Galen Sands do for their stories, so I hope you all forgive me for imitating their styles. *bowing apologetically*

If you don't want to be spoiled on how the chapter will run, then just skip the first bolded and underlined 'Spoiler Segment' title and go past the 'End Segment' lines to just go read the chapter itself.

**Spoilers Segment:**

…

Okay then, the first part of this chapter is kind of just Accelerator waking up after being curb-stomped by my OP!Touma. I did a bit of research on his past and characterization to help write his character, but I don't know if I did well. I'll leave that to the readers to judge. He is kind of reacting to how Touma beat him, then has a little chat with Heaven Canceller.

Doctor Frog-Face informs him of Academy City's situation and teases him a bit before leaving. Accelerator got Touma's last name and did a bit of a translation on it. As for the Number One being to do that kind of stuff, well, do you really think that having the most powerful brain in the world comes without knowledge from just about every field of education? 

Second: The reaction of Academy City to Accelerator's loss. This is one of the parts that I'm the most nervous about. Judgment is going to increase their efforts to get Touma. The average esper and non-esper students are kind of divided. The winner is stated to be the Sleeping Dragon, so the rumors are going to run a bit wild again. And I might get a laugh out of you for what I did for Skill-Out.

Third: Touma is going to meet his parents per canon, but Kumokawa Seria is tagging along. That decision was just another random canon-deviation I put in there for the hell of it. She was the accidental cause of the Kihara family going after Touma and this is chapter where I also finally explain what happened during the four month incident between Touma and the Kihara family.

I have no regrets whatsoever regarding the addition of the werewolf in the explanation of how Touma learned about magic. In fact, the wolf was mainly the reason Touma learned about it at all. I'll admit that I did some rather creative things with giving werewolves the detriment of going on a psychotic rampage during a blue moon. But hey, have we ever thought about what a werewolf was like during a blue moon?

Again, I also have no regrets in making Kumokawa Seria a closet pervert who wants to jump Touma's bones. That was kind of there for comedy value.

Touma's parents and Otohime get an appearance as they arrive to get Touma and Kumokawa and Shiina (Touma's mother, if you don't know) teases them both. It does seem like something Kamijou's parents would do regarding Touma being with a female friend.

I give a teensy-weensy glance of Touma's past along with his family. It's both similar and different from canon Touma's past, to say the least.

Lastly, Hino Jinsaku is broken out of his cell by…. 'Akuma-sama.' This should tip you off to what I'm doing with this Arc. If it doesn't, then you'll find out at the end of the chapter in the Post-Chapter Notes.

…

***End Segment***

There's a lot of stuff happening in this chapter and I'm kind of worried about its pacing as well. Did I go too fast with the plot development?

Ah well.

One last thing before I start: I have changed the description of this story.

Time to get another chapter of this story started!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Accelerator's red eyes opened as he found himself in a white room. He peered monotonously at the ceiling.

'_Unfamiliar ceiling…_' The albino thought with neutrality.

He looked around a bit and saw that the white room was, in fact, a hospital ward. Accelerator frowned in confusion wondering what he was doing in it. Feeling something on his cheek, he reached up and found, to his shock, that there was a bandage there. The esper gave a small poke at the cloth and found himself wincing at the pain.

'_Wait a minute, pain?_' Accelerator was confused.

He was the Strongest and literally could not remember the last time he had felt pain. His Vector Field often stopped anything from harming him, unless….

Red eyes widened as the Number One felt the memories of his defeat to that strange boy come rushing back. Rage filled his entire being.

He was supposed to be the Strongest. The Number One. The Untouchable.

He was the Accelerator and he had been _defeated?_

When he had first obtained his vector manipulating ability, many scientist and researchers (Both in _and_ out of Academy City) had attempted to get a closer look, wanting to obtain the privileges and honor that came with getting results from such a rare specimen.

Specimen.

Some of those morally-bankrupt bastards hadn't even considered him as a human. When all of their proposals had been rejected by the General Superintendent of Academy City, they had been angry. So angry, in fact, that some had sent teams of professional mercenaries to either kidnap or eliminate the young Accelerator.

They never stood a chance.

Even at a young age, the albino's ability had developed to where bullets and knives could be subconsciously deflected off of his Vector Field. The deflected weaponry had always completely bounced off of Accelerator and struck the attackers, causing them to become seriously injured or outright killed.

At first, he had been horrified by the fact that he was causing so much blood to be spilt. But as time went on and more assassins were unintentionally slaughtered by Accelerator, he had become fairly apathetic.

Then Kihara Amata stepped in.

The man was horrid. But he was possibly one of the most brilliant men in the world, considering his research and calculations concerning Accelerator's vectors. In fact, the crass scientist had been something of a horrible influence on the boy, considering his crass language, blatant disregard for the fellow human being, and his cynical attitude altogether.

Accelerator had not been sure what to think when he had been asked to participate in the Level 6 Shift Project. At first, he had been skeptical in thinking that Level 6 could be reached through constant battling.

But the scientists would not let him go until he killed the gir- _clone_. Those Sisters had just been soulless clones. They had just been fleshy dolls that could be produced at the press of a button and the cost of 180,000 yen each.

At least, that was what Accelerator had convinced himself of to absolve the guilt.

It had been difficult to kill the first one. To the albino's horror, the killing had somehow grown easier and a small, demented part of him had begun to _enjoy_ it. He had tried to mock and taunt the clones to make them feel fear and actually seem human. He had tried hard to uncover the humanity in the Sisters, but it just would not _work_.

As the experiment progressed, Accelerator had felt like he had become an irredeemable monster. In fact, he _still_ felt like that.

Then Railgun got involved. After figuring out what was being done with her DNA, the poor _naïve_ girl had tried to stop the experiment. But it wouldn't work. The Dark Side of Academy City was too vast and overwhelming for one girl (Even if she was a Level 5) to defeat.

After seeing the original article himself, he'd tried to strike terror into her to make her stop her foolish intervention and make sure she didn't become too plunged into the Darkness like him. But she had come back and this time, she had brought Mental Out and a teleporter. The fight had been almost hilariously one-sided.

A redirection of electricity to stop the Railgun. A quick grab and deflection at the vectors of the eleventh dimension to stop those needles (Clever, but still not nearly enough.) that the teleporter had launched. Then finally the AIM disruption to stop Mental Out.

It had been all-too-easy.

After dodging the lethally sharp needles that she had originally thrown. the teleporter had asked him why he needed more power when he was already the Number One. The albino had practically seen red at that point and had triggered a powerful explosion to severely injure the girls.

Accelerator wanted to become so strong that the notion of bringing injury to him would be considered blasphemy.

Then that strange boy had appeared.

He had appeared normal enough. Spiky black hair, black school uniform, exasperated look on his face. He seemed like the typical innocent Level 0 high-school student.

The boy who had seemed 'normal enough' had deflected his blood-flow reversal. Nobody had been able to deflect him, even Kihara had only been able to reverse his AIM with precise calculations and movement. It had been impossible, even if the boy's shoulder had been dislocated in the process. Most of the time, the close-range attacker's joints were smashed into completely wrong directions.

Accelerator had been angry. His rage had increased to the intensity of a white-hot sun. Every single day of his life, the albino had always won his battles in a single stroke. This _asshole_ had managed to do something that he had thought was impossible.

He had tried to spill the spiky-haired boy's blood again and, in return, had experienced pain when his stomach was struck by a punch. Accelerator had never thought that he would ever feel that much pain in his entire life. The pain had engulfed his entire body and somehow had dispelled his AIM field. His indestructible field of vectors had been nullified.

For the first time in his life, his shield of vectors had been dispelled and the physically-deteriorated boy underneath had been completely unveiled.

After falling unconscious (Damnit, that had been _weird_.), he woke up again to hear that one of the people near him talk. When he had heard them say 'Accelerator' and 'weak', his slighty-delirious and unhinged mind had interpreted it in the worst way possible.

At the very least he now know how to use the vectors in the air. But it didn't soothe the damage that had been inflicted to his admittedly large ego one bit.

After the dark-haired boy had managed to disperse the tornado (He still had trouble believing that.) and launch the plasma storm away with a kick (Seriously, _what the hell_.), the albino had been incapacitated for the last time and felt defeat for the first time.

Defeat.

It was –or had been, at the very least- a foreign concept to Accelerator. Now that he had tasted it for the first time, it was odd. He felt his rage disperse and be replaced by an uncertain hollowness. The albino could no longer say that he was the Strongest. That title belonged to whoever the hell that dark-haired boy was.

"What am I supposed to do now?" Accelerator questioned to nobody, still staring at the ceiling with an empty look in his eyes.

He saw a clean stack of clothes folded neatly on the nearby empty visitor's chair and tried to get up. The albino winced, feeling some pain in his torso. Accelerator lifted up the disinfected, hospital-issued shirt to reveal a pale and skinny stomach that was covered in bandages.

"Ah, you're awake." A jovial voice said, startling Accelerator out of his introspective thoughts. He looked at the source of the voice, seeing an old man with a white coat (Secretly, he felt the urge to slaughter everything in sight whenever he saw white coats because they reminded him of those morally-bankrupt scientists.) with his facial features resembling that of a certain amphibian mascot.

What was that mascot's name again? Gokita? Gakuka?

Gekota! That was it. He couldn't understand why he managed to remember that trivial detail. Once again, Accelerator was snapped out of his internal rambling by the doctor.

"You took quite a bit of damage in that little scuffle of yours." Heaven Canceller chuckled, making the esper stare at him incredulously.

"Little scuffle? What the hell…." Accelerator growled quietly with his right eyebrow twitching at the words of the doctor. He frowned as a question was brought up in his head. "How long have I been out?"

The doctor blinked at his question and responded. "Oh, only a couple of hours. It isn't even the afternoon of the day after you were brought in."

Accelerator narrowed his eyes and nodded with a disgruntled scowl. "Where is he? The guy who beat me. I need to see him."

Heaven Canceller raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his question. "Ah, Kamijou-kun? He's on a vacation."

"A….. vacation?" Accelerator asked, feeling baffled by the answer. Maybe a celebration to enjoy the fact that he had defeated the Number One, the albino could understand, but a vacation?

"The news that you have been defeated has been leaked. The General Superintendent is trying to cover it up, but gossip can't be stopped." Heaven Canceller explained, his attitude becoming serious.

"Leaked?" Accelerator murmured, alarmed by the information. "How much time has it had to spread?"

The doctor grimaced. "Since you've been unconscious." At that, Accelerator mirrored the older man's expression.

The esper groaned, bringing a hand up to palm his face. "And here I thought I could finally get some relaxation. I can see why the guy who defeated me needs a 'vacation'. How long do you think before it dies down?"

Heaven Canceller deadpanned at him. "My field of expertise is medicine, not sociology. You might want to ask someone else on that." Normally, Accelerator would kill the person who dared to take such a tone with him, but his heart just wasn't into it after losing. And it didn't seem very polite to murder the doctor who had treated him.

Said doctor continued to speak. "You will be in here for quite a bit while your ribs are recovering. They had fractured after the blunt force trauma that Kamijou-kun had delivered to you. Either he needs to hold back more, or you need to drink more milk." Heaven Canceller joked with a mirthful glint in his wizened eyes, the serious atmosphere being dispelled with ease.

Accelerator clicked his tongue, glaring at the doctor. "Tch, I don't need to drink more milk, asshole." He muttered the insult quietly.

"Then why do I hear that you have only been drinking canned coffee?" Heaven Canceller asked dryly, making the albino squirm uncomfortably. Deciding that the question didn't need to be answered, the doctor went over to the door, sliding it open.

"Try to get some rest. It might even help that crabby little attitude of yours." The frog-faced man joked one last time before leaving and closing the door behind him, leaving Accelerator alone in the silent hospital ward.

"…Kamijou, huh…." Accelerator mused quietly, and then got a small, trivial fact in his head. He frowned and made a small translation of the name 'Kamijou' in his head. The albino was a veritable genius in all types of education, so Japanese name interpretation would be easy for him.

His eyes widened as he came to a conclusion on what exactly the name meant. Accelerator could only chuckle at the absurdity of its meaning.

"The person superior to God, eh?..." He chuckled darkly with a small grin that he couldn't stop from growing on his face. "Heh, it's only fitting of the person who defeated me."

With that, his rage and ego were soothed, if only a tiny bit.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The situation in Academy City could easily be summed up in two words.

Uncontrollable chaos.

At least, that was how it was under the calm and bustling surface of the city that was mostly occupied by super-powered and hormonal school students. There had been a shocking occurrence that sent ripples throughout the city.

The Number One esper had been defeated.

It was something that startled each and every occupant of the scientific city to the core. Accelerator had been the Strongest for as long as everybody could remember. He had been the untouchable pinnacle of how powerful an esper could be. What caused even more shock had been the rumors that he had lost to a _Level 0_. It was supposed to be treated as a joke rumor that nobody would ever believe.

Then news of _who_ exactly the Level 0 was had been spread around.

It had been the Sleeping Dragon.

An unknown and monstrously powerful individual who had reportedly faced Level 5's on several occasions and won. Or at the very least, the fight had been interrupted while it had been in the Dragon's favor. Whoever he was, he was rumored to be an indestructible and unstoppable force of chaos that destroyed all in his path without mercy.

Upon the spreading of this rumor, approximately one-third of all the Skill-Outs in the city had turned themselves into Judgment with the full intent of never wanting to leave their containment cells. This had baffled everybody who had heard of this, but when anybody asked the delinquents why they did this, there had only been one general response.

'I'd rather be holed up in a cell than out there where that _monster_ is running around.'

Needless to say, the law enforcements of Academy City had grown even more determined to get Kamijou into their services. Or at least ask him for permission to use his terrifying reputation to keep the occasional, rowdy delinquent in order. They didn't really care which one as long as Kamijou somehow became affiliated with them.

All of the rumor-savvy occupants in Academy City were divided.

On one hand, if the rumor about Accelerator losing was true, then hope would be reignited in Level 0's all across the city. Many Level 0's had given up any chance of enhancing their powers after year to year of failure and little to no progress. But hearing that a Level 0 had defeated the Number One…

It made many of the dismayed students feel their determination to become espers revive.

Most of the others (They had been mostly the Level 3's and 4's) were skeptical of the entire matter. While it was an amazing occurrence, they simply felt that it was nothing but a far-fetched rumor that was made by a disgruntled Level 0.

But there were still some that knew the truth.

Like Alyssa Crowley, the Board of Directors and several other high profile figures in Academy City.

The Board of Directors had worked extensively with carefully spent resources in order to keep Accelerator from coming into contact with the unstoppable force of chaos that was known as Kamijou Touma. Every time, the wielder of the Imagine Breaker somehow met with a Level 5, the esper was somehow changed in a certain way.

Mental Out had become more cunning.

Dark Matter was humbled.

Meltdowner had become obsessed with Kamijou to an unnerving degree.

Attack Crash had become more focused and competent in combat (Admittedly, that fact was somewhat terrifying when Gunha's incomprehensible ability became even _more_ dangerous).

Luckily enough, Railgun only seemed to want to defeat Kamijou.

But there was a point to be seen in all of the changes in the various Level 5's.

Kamijou Touma had a strange effect on every unique person he met.

The Board of Directors could only dread to see what change would occur in Accelerator.

Once again, the situation in Academy City could easily be summed up in two words.

Uncontrollable chaos.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma sneezed for the umpteenth time as he walked. He sniffled, rubbing his nose while frowning. The boy with the incomprehensible nullifier for a hand stiffened, remembering the last time he had sneezed that many times.

It had been just before he had met the Kihara family.

"Maybe that's just being paranoid…" Touma muttered with a sigh. He felt a poke to his right cheek bring him out of his thoughts. Kamijou blinked and looked to his walking companion with a questioning glance.

"Is there something wrong, senpai?" The spiky-haired boy asked to the girl who was walking with him.

Kumokawa Seria raised an eyebrow and stared at him, exasperated by Kamijou's behavior. "Oh, just the fact that my dear kohai is not listening to his knowledgable senpai's words."

"Well, I apologise." Touma deadpanned with a flat look on his face. He still wasn't entirely sure why Kumokawa had tagged along with him on a pseudo-forced vacation.

After defeating the Number One, Touma was forced to flee the city until the commotion died down. The higher-ups had been generous enough to fund for an all-expenses-paid vacation for him to go and see his parents while they were at the Kamijou vacation home.

When his parents had gotten word of this, they (along with, surprisingly enough, his little cousin who had been staying with them as her own parents were conducting some business overseas) had been ecstatic at seeing him again. While they could see him by visiting Academy City, the paperwork and procedures for clearance into the city was a large bunch of irritation.

Kamijou Touya and Kamijou Shiina didn't care about how much trouble they had to go through to see their misfortunate son again, but their work more often than not got in the way. In Touma's honest opinion, it would be a great relief to meet them after the stressing times he had gone through recently.

Getting burned by an atomic laser, having to make a quick reparation of his spiritual existence, and fighting the strongest esper in Academy City tended to build up a considerable amount of stress.

Kumokawa Seria had only tagged along because she wondered what kind of people Kamijou Touma's parents were. She was intent on finding out whether or not Touma had gotten his chaotic luck from his parents. It was most certainly not because she wanted to make a favorable impression with the parents of the boy she li-

'_Wait a minute, Seria, hold up!_' The girl halted her thoughts, not wanting to go too far or else her self-control would loosen. The last time that had happened while she was near Touma, Kumokawa had nearly grabbed him and pulled him down for a kis-

'_Bad thoughts, Kumokawa, bad thouuuuuughhhhtttttts!_' The dark-haired girl wailed internally, not wanting to snap. She was giving off a twitch every now and then, her restraint being tested as she was walking with the secret object of her affections. But the fact that Touma was there was making it a herculean effort.

Seria sobered up immediately, remembering that Kamijou's four-month disappearance from school because he was being chased down by the Kihara family.

After all, she had been the inadvertent cause of the incident.

Whenever Kumokawa had gone to a regular meeting with the Board of Directors, she had always made teasing comments to them about how unpredictable Kamijou had been. In one particular meeting, she had dropped a hint about the Imagine Breaker (of course, she hadn't known the name of the ability at the time). But Seria had made a horrible mistake when that comment had been made.

A Kihara had been listening to the meeting.

The Kihara family always had something of an affinity for science and evil. And that had been specifically the reason why Alyssa Crowley and the Board of Directors had done their level best to ensure that the Kihara family never got sight or word of Kamijou Touma. They explicitly knew that if word of Kamijou's ability being incomprehensible by science got out, the mad scientists would take it as a challenge and get their hands on Kamijou for experimentation.

They did. For the space of thirty-six hours.

The first twenty-five hours involved incapacitating Kamijou and transferring him to a specialized overseas research facility that was isolated for Kihara-use-only.

Then he had woken up from the anesthesia they had put him under and proceeded to bulldoze through every single security system and military guard that was keeping him contained.

The automated security system had taken him three hours to destroy. The military guards only took two hours. Escaping the island and running away to the nearest country (which was coincidentally England) over the ocean had taken him six hours. When he finally arrived on land, Touma had met his first supernatural creature.

It had been a werewolf.

The silver-furred wolf-man had been driven into an insatiable blood rampage by the rarely-occurring blue moon phenomenon. During a regular full-moon, werewolves were often only urged to transform into their pseudo-canine forms and roam the night. But two full moons in one month were taxing on a werewolf's sanity, causing their bloodthirsty instincts to run wild.

After subduing the werewolf and gaining his gratitude, Touma had learned that magic existed from an unlikely, yet familiar source that he had met at a coffee shop in London.

Finding out that Tsuchimikado Motoharu had been a magician didn't really surprise him after trading blows with a titanic werewolf that could smash buildings to rubble and move at speeds that surpassed sound. The explanation regarding the intricacies of magic had been both complex and enlightening.

The blonde sis-con had been a great boon in helping Touma escape the fervent chasing of the Kihara family. Each and every time they had found him, the mad scientists had tried more and more blatant methods to capture Kamijou or at least obtain his right arm.

As four months of relentless chasing passed, it had gotten to the point where the boy had finally gotten tired of their behavior and decided to do something _different_. The next time a Kihara had come to him, Touma had gripped his own right arm by the bicep and tore it off his shoulder with no preamble.

He had let loose the Invisible Thing on the Kihara and completely changed the man's view of the world.

Apparently, the mind-distorting assault of the Other Being had somehow removed the 'evil' that was inherent in every Kihara and made the man a person who didn't completely obsess over science and could actually be reasoned with. That same Kihara was now a normally functioning doctor who worked as an associate of Heaven Canceller at the man's hospital.

And that completely terrified the Kihara family.

Science was their way of life and Kamijou Touma had easily moved one of their own off of it in a matter of minutes.

After that particular incident, the Kihara family destroyed any research they had involving Kamijou Touma and regarded him as a maximum-level threat that was to be avoided at all costs. Alyssa Crowley had managed to sweep the entire incident under the rug with the cooperation of the Board of Directors, who also waved off Kamijou's absences as a special trip for he had won in a lottery.

However, Kumokawa Seria knew nothing of who had helped Touma evade the Kiharas and what kind of magical chaos he had plunged himself into. And she most certainly knew not a single hint of what Touma had done to make a Kihara into a sensible and not-evil member of society.

Frankly, she did _not_ want to know. Just the thought of what it would take to make a Kihara not-evil and completely sane would drive proverbial needles of ice up her spine.

All in all, the situation had been wrapped up smoothly. But Kumokawa couldn't help but feel guilty for the fact that Kamijou's trialing experiences had been partially her own fault. Seria felt that she had a long way to go before she could even consider being anything more than a helpful senpai to Kamijou.

Kumokawa gave a small jolt, feeling a warm hand on her shoulder stop her thoughts from continuing. She turned her head and felt her face heat up at how close Kamijou was.

'_Of all the times he gets near me, why does it have to be now!?_' The girl thought, trying to calm her raging hormones and keep herself from doing something to Touma that she would regre-… Oh who the hell was she kidding, Seria wouldn't regret a single erotic action that she committed as long as her partner in the raunchy acts was Kamijou Touma.

Touma was currently concerned, wondering why Kumokawa Seria looked so flustered. _'First Fukiyose, then Himegami, and finally Kumokawa-senpai? Is there a rash of summer fevers going on right now?_' The oblivious boy thought, completely unknowing of the triple-X rated thoughts going through his senpai's head.

"OOOOOOOOONIIIIIIIIIIII-CHAAAAAANNNNNNNN!"

An excited cry rang out as Touma turned in the direction of the call. He blinked, feeling and hearing something like a small body thump into him. The spiky-haired boy looked down and saw, to his amusement, a familiar gray-haired girl hugging him. He chuckled and patted her head, saying "It's good to see you again, Otohime."

Tatsugami Otohime's head moved up, flashing a brilliant smile at Touma. Kamijou noted that she had grown up quite a bit since the last time he had seen her when he was on vacation outside of Academy City. She only hugged him tighter, making an incoherent sound of happiness as she couldn't completely wrap her arms around Touma's larger frame. But that didn't stop her from trying.

While this was going on, Kumokawa was watching from the sidelines with a small, genuine smile tugging at her lips. Kamijou rarely ever let anyone get near him like that, so she figured that only one of his family members would do that. Seeing something out of the corner of her eye, Seria looked down the stone path as she squinted with one of her hands coming up to shade her eyes from the bright sun.

She spotted two figures, one male with black slicked-back hair and one female with long brown hair, leisurely walking towards them with an air of joviality around them. Kumokawa raised an eyebrow, looking back and forth between the figures and Touma several times before making a conclusion.

'_So those are his parents…._' Seria deduced, noting the familiarity between the couple and Touma.

Kamijou Touya and Kamijou Shiina moved to the trio, delighted at seeing their son again after so long. Seeing him in good health and sound mind was even better, considering what happened when….

_Everything was decimated as far as the eye could see._

_Still bodies were littered everywhere, both large and small. They were not dead, but they resembled corpses remarkably well._

_Panicked and concerned for their son, Touya and Shiina were running forward toward the small standing figure that was standing at the unscathed center of the chaotic destruction._

_The small figure was a young boy that had messy black hair, glowing blue eyes, and an expression of terror and shock on his face as he stared at his hands._

_There was an unconscious man in front of him who was frothing at the mouth and had his eyes rolled into the back of head. Near the downed man lay the shattered remains of what would later be identified as a knife._

_The young Kamijou Touma looked up at his parents who were moving toward him, terror visible in his brightly-glowing blue eyes. His mouth parted open and he screamed-_

No. The parents did not want to ruin the happy occasion because of some depressing memories from years past. There was no point in trying to regret the past. It had been tough getting Touma to stop blaming himself for the incident.

And there was one more reason.

Touma had finally brought a girl with him!

Both Touya and Shiina had playfully teased their son on numerous occasions whenever they saw him with a female his own age. They had wanted for Touma to get a girlfriend to help him with the stress of having so much chaos go on in his life, but he had always waved them off with half-hearted reassurance that he was fine.

The parents of Kamijou Touma didn't believe that one bit.

Touma gave a relaxed smile as he saw his parents again. It had been _so long_ since he had seen his mom and dad that he was starting to get a bit homesick. Every now and then, he'd contemplated leaving Academy City for a bit and paying them a visit. Kamijou could've easily snuck past (or destroyed, but again, that would be rude) the numerous defenses that the city had been built to see his mom and dad.

After all, they were his family.

"Tou-san! Kaa-san!" Touma called out, his smile widening into a grin. Otohime finally let go of him while looking back at her happy uncle and aunt, her own expression mimicking her older cousin's.

His parents finally stopped in front of him and paused to look at each other, their eyes somehow expressive enough that it seemed like they were exchanging secret messages with each other. Kamijou raised his eyebrow at this, wondering why they had stopped so abruptly. Their faces broke into huge smiles as they opened their arms wide and engulfed the surprised Touma in a large hug.

Touma hugged them back, reveling in the fact that his parents were there right in front of him. He could only try and hold back his relieved tears at that. Kamijou had underestimated just how nice it was to simply hug his parents after leaving behind the constant hustle and bustle of Academy City.

"It's good to see you again, son." Touya grinned, showing who his son inherited his smile from. Both parents had been somewhat reluctant to stop the hug with Touma, but they needed to address another matter first.

"You never mentioned that you had a girlfriend before." Shiina teased, making her son and the girl he had come with turn a rather interesting shade of red. She made a smile at this, enjoying both their reactions and the fact that Touma was finally acting like a normal teenager. After _that_ incident, he always tried to act a bit _too_ mature for his age.

"I-It's not like that, kaa-san. She's just my senpai at school." Touma explained feebly, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. Kumokawa, on the other hand, had her thoughts stuck on a single word that she had heard.

'_G-Girlfriend?_' Seria thoughts skidded to a complete halt as she repeated the word over and over again in her head. '_Girlfriend…Girlfriend…Does this mean they approve of me?_' She thought as a dreamy smile grew on her face, her intelligent mind thrown into a jumble by Touma's mother.

It seemed like Touma was not the only one who could completely destroy a person's concentration with a single statement.

Kamijou raised an eyebrow as Kumokawa's face was still red and a smile slowly stretched out on her face. He blinked, moving forward to his senpai. Touma waved his hand in front of Seria's face a few times and turned back to his mother with an expression of exasperation on his features.

"Kaa-san, I think you broke senpai." Touma deadpanned as he gave an accusing stare to his mother, which Shiina ignored with a turn of her head. She held an innocent look on her face as if to say 'Who, me?' and was covering her mouth with one hand to smother her giggles. Shiina couldn't help herself.

It was just so much _fun_ teasing her son and his friends!

"Okay then, people," Touya started as he clasped his hands together. "Let's get to our house and get Touma and his senpai settled in before we get carried away." Despite that statement, his smile seemed to express that he didn't mind if they did something else first.

It was convenient that Academy City had already taken the liberty to send Kamijou and Kumokawa's luggage ahead of time, as they didn't have to lug it with them. Or at least Touma didn't have to lug it. He had the suspicious feeling that Seria would have done something to coerce him into carrying both of their luggage if given the chance.

Everybody made responses of agreement and headed out to the Kamijou vacation home to get some rest before they started their vacation fun on the next day. In their excitement, time had passed quickly and the sun was already setting after what seemed like such a short day.

Touma was giving a soft smile as he walked leisurely with his family and Seria to the home.

'_This is nice…._'

**Between The Lines**

Laying against a stone wall in a prison cell was a bald man with beady eyes, which were out-of-focus. His frail body made the occasional twitch or convulsion as he made nonsensical mutterings. One of the only words that could be made out was the phrase, 'Akuma-sama', with a great amount of worship present behind it.

Hino Jinsaku's head snapped up as sounds were ringing outside of his cell. There were loud bangs of guns being fired and frantic shouts of 'Don't let him break anybody out!'. More screams rang out, that time with panic and fear. After the screams came the blood-curdling splats as if a viscous liquid was being messily spread out. Finally, Jinsaku could hear the lock of his cell door shattering under some type of blunt force.

Then the door and the wall around it exploded.

A screen of smoke had come up after the flare of destruction, fragments of the stone still clattering to the ground as a shadowy figure stood in the opening. The air around that unknown person was filled with an intent that could only be described as _evil_ and _wrong_. It was hard to see in the dark and unlit cell, but a certain liquid could be seen splattered all over the form of the mysterious person.

It was blood.

Jinsaku's beady eyes suddenly focused on the figure as he recognized it. He started to hyperventilate as he part-crawled and part-stumbled over to the tall being and knelt clumsily before it.

"Akuma-sama, you have come to save this unworthy follower! I give my most humble apologies for making you see this unworthy follower without a sacrifice to present to Akuma-sama." Hino passionately apologized, his voice scratchy from being unused for so long.

The figure had shadows slithering off the ground and shrouding around it, sometimes being expelled off of it as black smoke. On its head, two vague-horn-shaped appendages were sticking out of its head.

The figure sneered despite not having a mouth and gave a condescending stare to the kneeling serial killer in front of it, saying nothing. It would've chosen someone who was not as mentally 'gone' as that person, but Jinsaku was the best it could do on short notice.

The shadowy figure turned and walked out. Hino cautiously moved his head up a bit, sending a fearful look towards 'Akuma-sama' in case he might be punished. He saw that the shadowy figure was leaving and soon came up and stumbled after it, his muscles partially asleep from disuse.

He almost tripped going through the rubble of the sloppy-made opening that the figure had made and gazed up and down the hallways of the prison.

It had been a complete slaughter.

Bloody corpses of policemen were spread out everywhere, some of which were heavily maimed and contorted into disgusting shapes. There were dented bullets and broken guns all over the floor and bullet holes on the walls. Blood was splattered and painted everywhere Jinsaku could see as he beheld the destruction that 'Akuma-sama' had caused as it had come for him. In the eyes of a sane and morally-right person, they would be horrified and think about what kind of insane _monster_ would cause that type of slaughter.

But Hino Jinsaku was not sane and was most definitely not morally-right.

The serial killer shook his head to come out of his stupor from the 'glorious' sight of the massacre and hurried to meet with 'Akuma-sama'.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: I now present the opening of my very first AU Arc.

The Devil Rise Arc.

What do I mean by this? Well, there was Angel Fall, but why didn't anybody think of Devil Rise?

I still wonder how you readers will take this.

Did the pacing of this chapter seem alright or did I rush things too much? And did anybody catch the little reference to another anime character that I made in the Accelerator segment of the chapter?

Hint: It's the first thought that Accelerator had when he woke up.

Answer these questions in a review or PM, if you would be so kind.

Please leave a review about what you thought of this chapter.

Signing off for now-Loopsey.


	10. Beachtime

Pre-Chapter Notes: Wow, this chapter kind of took longer than it usually does….

And to all of you people in your guess, then you are correct, Accelerator was channeling a bit of Shinji Ikari from Evangelion he was thinking 'unfamiliar ceiling'.

Review-Answering Segment:

zoro99: Bad Thoughts disease, eh? I might make that a running gag….

*End Segment*

Time to move onto the Spoilers. If you don't want any spoilers about how this chapter is, then just move from the bolded lines that starts the segment to the next bolded lines that ends the segment and just start the chapter to find out for yourself.

**-Spoilers Segment-**

…**.**

Lessee what's going on…

-More exposition on Touma's past, which includes how he awakened his power, some introspection on his ability

-Exposition on how Touma met the Invisible Thing and you guys get to know more about the Other Beings

-Exposition on Touma's arrival in Academy City along with his befriending a few people

-After Touma wakes up, Kumokawa accidentally walks in on him while he's taking his shirt off. Kamijou just says 'Pervert'. This scene was inspired by Devil Survivor 2 when the MC had Makoto walk into his room and one of the dialogue options was 'Pervert!'.

-Touma is accidentally traumatized by his mother's swimsuit (It was already skimpy enough on when it was his mother in Index's body and this isn't Angel Fall body switching this time….)

-There's a huge amount of fanservice and shiptease between Kumokawa and Touma, especially when our dear Kamijou-san is doing the 'Rubbing lotion on a girl's back' event. I even include a little exposition about one of Touma's past trips to another country and him getting trained on how to move better (as in acrobatics) and even (unintentionally) learning how to give an ero-massage….

-Touma saves Otohime from some sharks and comes back to find that Tsuchimikado is at the beach along with…..

-Kanzaki Kaori, Stiyl Magnus, and Index Librorum Prohibitorum have now made another reappearance! If you're wondering about Kanzaki's swimsuit, it's the same one she wore in the Norse Mythology side-volume.

…**.**

**-End Segment-**

Ah, there's one more thing too. It turns out that one of the reviewers (Darkdeath12) of this story is an artist and made some fanart of Touma with his gray wings and halo!

Here's the link, my gracious readers, but you have to remove the spaces before entering it.

screwston12 . deviantart art/Touma-Kamijou-399226405

Everybody give a big round of applause to Darkdeath12 for giving the time and effort to do the fanart!

*sniffle* I never thought that this story would gain enough attention to garner its own fanart

*sniffle again* I'm gonna need a moment….. While I'm gone, here's the chapter for you wonderful people to read.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Power.

Life.

Energy.

Euphoria.

He could use any and all of these words to describe the feeling that his body was overflowing with. He felt like he could do _anything_.

His very _existence_ simply held that much power. It was incomprehensible in the perception of humanity. But while he himself was human, he could understand his power because he bore it within himself.

In the beginning, he had wondered and wondered. There was _no way_ that somebody like him could just be born with this power. But it was real. It had just been waiting for the chance to awaken.

It had welled up inside himself until the right moment.

But the moment had been _very_ unexpected.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The embittered, insane man with bloodshot eyes gave a hatred-filled glare at the terrified child in front of him. No, this was not a child. It was a _demon_. By simply coming contact with that abomination, he had lost everything in a fire.

His booming business.

It had been lost because of a bout of misfortune and an accidental spark that instigated a raging inferno. The business had been the accumulation of his hopes and dreams, the product of pouring his heart and passion into it. Then it had gone up in a literal blaze that had been the result of a simple unlucky occurrence.

But the man refused to believe that. It had been coincidental, but he didn't care. It had to have been that little _monster_.

And he was going to exact his revenge for his losses.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The cowering little boy with the messy black hair was staring at the older man with fear. He had just been playing with his (admittedly few) friends when that kind man from a few days came to the playground.

Except now he wasn't so kind.

The grizzled man was roaring at him, making the kids who had been around the boy with messy black hair cry and run with fear.

'WHY! WHY DID IT HAPPEN!? WHY!?' The man had shouted over and over again.

Why.

It was a question that many people asked whenever they were around the boy. He always had horrible luck and it would spread to others. Sometimes, small things would happen and somebody would just slip a bit. Other times…..

There had been an occurrence when a building had collapsed in on itself approximately an hour after the boy had been in and out of it.

There had been no structural faults that could have caused the building to collapse. No weak foundation had been seen and no easily breakable materials had been used in the initial construction of the building. It had actually been fairly new with the structure still running strong.

Until the little boy who was known as Kamijou Touma went near it.

After an initial check was done over the broken materials of the destroyed building, it had appeared that the inner support had somehow rotted as if the hands of time were slowly making them whither. In all likeliness, it had simply been a bout of misfortune.

The collapse of the building had been only one of many different incidents that had occurred in the boy's hometown. The only piece of evidence that could be linked was the unlucky boy himself. It seemed like all of the incidents only occurred when he was near.

Humans could be very logical beings. Logic would dictate that an innocent seven-year-old boy would not be the cause of the strange incidents. However, all of the incidents had been illogical. They had all happened near the boy and each misfortunate happening had something strange and otherworldly occurring.

Thus, the illogical nature of karma overcame the logical nature of humans.

The naturally kind and good-natured people of the neighborhood began to treat Kamijou, and by extension, his family unnaturally. Nothing had been blatant like physical abuse or insults. It had been discrete with everybody secretively sending disdainful looks at the boy and making spiteful words behind the Kamijou family's back.

But the Kamijou family knew.

The people in the neighborhood had not been as discrete as they thought they had been. Some men had practically drunk themselves under the table and all but announced their disdain for the Kamijou family to the world. Others had simply made quiet, but insulting gossip and rumors about the family.

However, Kamijou Shiina was a perceptive woman and could see the dislike and reluctance that the housewives had for letting their children near her son. Her husband, Touya, had sometimes heard extremely insulting words about his family being uttered by some of the more drunken men in the bar that he went to with his friends.

Those same words had triggered particularly brutal bar-fights between him and those men.

The target of the dislike himself could see that people didn't like him, but could not for the life of him figure out _why_. Why was everybody frowning at him? Why did they say those hurtful things? He knew that his parents were doing their best to keep it a secret that people didn't like him, but it had grown to where they couldn't completely cover it up. The thing that had given it away had been a simple word.

Plague.

The first time that Touma had heard it, he had thought nothing of it. Then he heard it for a second, third, who-knows-how-many times while it was near him. He had begun to piece it together little by little until his innocent seven-year-old came to an unsure, but possible solution.

Kamijou Touma was thought of as a Plague.

The number of friends he had begun to slowly, but surely whittle away. When Touma found the ones that had stopped playing with him, he asked them why. The responses had been varied and worded differently, but the common answer was that their parents didn't want them to play with him anymore.

Then there had been that kind man who had encouraged to not get down on his luck. He had said that he was simply experiencing a low in his life and that it would get better. That if Touma ever hit rock-bottom, then there would be no way for him to go but up.

That same man was now staring at him with anger, hatred, and a myriad of other negative emotions. In his left hand was a shiny, sharp-looking knife that made the boy feel fear. He had started yelling at him in such a way that had been a complete contrast from that of the last time they had met.

"I-I don't know…" The young boy finally answered, his voice quivering and body shaking like a leaf in the wind. It seemed like that had been the wrong answer because the man's smoldering rage had only intensified.

"DIE!" The man roared as he raised his knife, fully intent on killing the innocent boy.

The boy's woefully short life was already flashing before his eyes. He felt everything slow to a crawl.

Touma could not believe this. He was going to die? Just like _that!?_

'_No._' A small part of Touma started. '_Am I just going to die like this? To some crazy guy with a knife?!_'

"No." Touma muttered, still shuddering. When that thought had rung through his head, his messy hair shadowed his eyes.

"I'm not going to die." Kamijou whispered shakily.

The knife stopped its descent in midair, the madman's arm also being kept in place by what seemed like a strong, invisible hand. The man's eyes widened at this, wondering why his hand would not go down and just _kill_ the little thing.

"If you think that I'll just stand still and let you kill me….." Touma muttered quietly. His eyes became uncovered as his hair somehow moved out of the way. The man flinched back, as the previously bright eyes had shifted into a deep _glowing_ blue.

"Then…." The boy continued in a possessed tone, slowly raising his right hand. His figure slowly became enveloped by a white and blue aura of raw, unfiltered _power_. The small boy locked his steely eyes with the man's fearful eyes.

"**I'm going to break that illusion.**" Touma declared in a tone of finality, his voice reverbating into the man's very being. He slashed his right hand down.

Everything went white.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Power.

Life.

Energy.

Euphoria.

Once again, Kamijou Touma could use any of those simple, yet powerful words to describe the feeling that his body was overflowing with.

But there was one finality.

One single and absolute truth that could be said about his power.

And so Kamijou Touma declares,

"I am,

**The One Who Purifies God and Exorcises the Devil**."

)))))) Line Break ((((((

The sixteen-year-old Kamijou Touma groggily opened his eyes, turning his head to look outside the window at the rising sun. He slowly pushed himself up while stretching, his jaw creaking open in a large yawn.

He blinked sleepily and moved one hand through his hair while giving a tired sigh. He had thought that those dreams of his past would finally stop after all those years.

After that incident in which Touma had awakened his power, the man who had tried to stab him had been diagnosed to be near-catatonic. It seemed that the man had suffered a psychological breakdown after losing his business in a large and destructive fire.

But Kamijou had known that his own luck was at fault.

He had discovered later on, through liberal use of his own power, that his luck was thrown into chaos by the instability of his power. There was a way to suppress-and possibly even _repair_- it and make sure that other people would not be affected.

And the solution was known as the Imagine Breaker. When he sought out the answer to his karmic dilemma, the phenomenon and name known as the Imagine Breaker somehow popped up in his head at a random moment.

Touma had called out and drawn the Imagine Breaker toward himself, allowing it to fuse with his right hand. Kamijou could always simply remove it and allow the pseudo-sentient anomaly to wander the Earth aimlessly, but he had to keep it until his luck would stabilize before he could even entertain the notion of letting it go.

Somewhere along the way, Touma had met the Invisible Thing. At first, the Other Being had simply been a presence. It had somehow forced Its way into his mind and pried out an image from his head so that it could manifest a solid form. Hilariously enough, the image had simply been a random thing on his mind because he thought it was cool.

It had chosen the form of a Dragon.

The battle between them had been long. It had been a persistent fighter and Kamijou had to move their battle to another dimension to avoid rending the Earth asunder with their powers.

Each attack the Invisible Thing flung, Touma deflected.

Each defense the Invisible Thing drew together, Touma destroyed.

It had been like a chaotic game of chess, both of the stupendously powerful entities using a different and unique tactic every step of the way. Eventually, both had gotten bored of the fight and decided to converse.

At first, it had been difficult to decipher the Other Being's language, but Touma allowed It to insert the knowledge into his mind. The eldritch knowledge that could easily distort the fabric of its existence had given Kamijou a skull-splittingly-painful headache, but along with it came the ability of conversing in any language that is human-produced or otherwise.

Touma did not want to think about the implications that 'otherwise' brought to his mind.

Luckily, he could easily cover up the terrifying thoughts by making himself busy with learning English and other languages. It was one thing to know a language and another thing to actually use it, as Kamijou still had practice extensively to get a hang of the languages and commit them to his mind.

When Touma had learned enough to ask the Invisible Thing on why It had challenged him, the Other Being had simply responded in Its own language with 'You were interesting.'

Kamijou had been _very_ unamused by the response. But he had found that there were other like It and that upon descending onto humanity's plane of existence, they all developed a common desire.

Interest.

Apparently, every one of the Other Beings had occupied an interconnected dimension while not interacting with each other in the slightest. All of their minds had been connected while there were no emotions running through any of the Other Beings.

But upon separating from the connection and coming into contact with the realm that held the humans, they had been influenced by the concepts of mankind. They grew intrigued and craved to understand these beings that held substance. The average 'substance beings', as the Other Beings had labeled the humans, held no immortality, no power, sometimes even no _connection_.

And yet their emotions were just so _interesting_.

Then they had discovered what the substance beings called 'magic'. To find out that a powerful substance being that was called a 'Magic God' could possibly hurt them made the Other Beings' fascination peak. It had made their interest grow even more. Of course, Other Beings held power, but they had no care for such trivial concepts like 'Who is more powerful?' or 'How was the power obtained?'.

It was simple. The Other Beings had come into existence with their power.

Touma had gotten quite a bit of insight into the Other Beings from the one hiding behind his Imagine Breaker. He had still gotten a bit of irritation into stuffing the Invisible Thing into the anomaly. Sealing it away had been an experience akin to shoving more things into his closet than the closet could actually handle.

To put it simply, he was careful whenever It came out because It determined something as 'interesting'.

Ironically, the entire mess with the Imagine Breaker and the Invisible Thing had simply been something happening to the side while Kamijou himself was being transferred into Academy City and getting out onto the vacations over the years with his family.

Academy City.

Touma's feelings were mixed on the location in which he had been inhabited. On one hand, the scientific city was the only place where his misfortune could be contained and not reviled. In the city, such things like 'misfortune' were simply waved aside as simple superstition and fervent paranoia.

On the other hand, the secrets of the city unnerved him. To know that such heinous experiments would take place in the 'Dark Side', as the more elusive side of Academy City was coincidentally termed, was infuriating and deplorable. There wasn't a living moment where he would rather destroy every single morsel of the Darkness and ensure that all of the victims (The ones that were still alive, at least) managed to gain a regular life.

But he managed to at least turn the School District 7 that he occupied into a safe haven free of the Dark Side of Academy City.

When Touma had come into the city, he had met Tsukuyomi Komoe, whom he had thought was the same age as him. Finding out that someone who looked like a grade schooler was actually a high school teacher still made him feel a bit of disbelief. Along with Komoe-sensei came a few certain others that Kamijou befriended.

Kumokawa Seria, who he had met when Yomikawa Aiho brought her. Aiho had been tagging along with Komoe and had decided to bring her own charge along to have the girl make friends. At first, Seria had been extremely shy, so much so that Touma could hardly believe that the young, blushing girl who hid behind Yomikawa's track-pants-covered leg would become the extremely intelligent and charismatic leader that she was in the present.

Aogami Pierce, who Kamijou had accidentally met through getting into a fight during middle school. Pierce had actually managed to predict the exact moment he could dodge Touma's attacks, which surprised the powerful boy. Several hours later with an exhausted Aogami and a bored Kamijou, they had put the fight behind them and just went to play at the arcade.

Sogiita Gunha…. In all honesty, Kamijou only knew him because the hot-blooded Gunha had commented on their similarities in hairstyle and stature. Then it had somehow degenerated into a vigorous and good-natured brawl and it became the start of a one-sided rivalry between Gunha and Kamijou.

It had also been during these fights that Sogiita learned that he needed a better battle plan than 'Hit them with the AMAZING PUNCH!'. That plan was immediately rendered obsolete when Kamijou could punch him halfway across Academy City in a tenth of a second.

He'd begun to use his 'black box' (At least, that was the only way that the scientists of Academy City could label it along with Level 5) ability to develop more and more attacks. Frankly, Touma thought that their battles started to get a bit ridiculous when Gunha had begun to sprint at Mach speed and shoot lasers from his eyes.

'_I swear our fights must look like something from a shonen manga._' Kamijou thought with exasperation.

The spiky-haired boy knew it was hypocritical to think of Gunha's ability as 'ridiculously powerful' when his own ability surpassed Attack Crash, but he just wished that the Level 5 would exert a bit of restraint until they weren't near things that could be easily damaged like buildings or people.

Finally tearing himself out of his reminiscing, Kamijou moved his blanket out of the way and got off the bed to start the first day of his vacation. He checked the alarm clock and found that it was around the usual time he woke up on a weekend. Rolling his shoulders and moving his arms to start getting them more limber for the day ahead, Touma grabbed the collar of his sleeping shirt and began to pull it off to change into something else.

That was the moment when Kumokawa Seria opened the door so that she could give Touma a wake-up call.

She froze, her mouth slowly opening into a gape. Seria could faintly feel a blush begin to rise on her cheeks as she looked at the also-frozen Kamijou Touma, who had stopped mid-shirt pull. She could only watch as her mind went blank, staring at Kamijou's toned physique.

'_He's ripped!_' Kumokawa was unable to keep herself from thinking, still looking at the finely-sculpted muscles on Touma. '_Why the hell does he wear baggy clothes!? It should be illegal to hide those abs!'_

While it was true that Tsuchimikado Motoharu had a similar physique to Kamijou, everybody who knew him had already been desensitized to the constantly unbuttoned state of his shirt. On the other hand, Touma always managed to unintentionally deceive people into thinking that he was an average, skinny teenage boy with his naturally-baggy clothes. But when he wore clothes that didn't hide his physique…..

'_Bad thoughts, Kumokawa, bad thoughts!_' Seria's rationale shouted, quickly being silenced as the girl was bordering on drooling and jumping Touma's bones.

The spiky-haired boy himself got a little idea in his head that could both work spectacularly and even get him a good laugh to start off the day…

Or backfire horribly on him.

'_Screw it. What do I have to lose?_' Touma thought, putting his plan in motion.

He blinked lazily and just looked at Kumokawa as he continued to pull his shirt off.

"Pervert." Touma said with a straight face, startling Seria out of her increasingly inappropriate imagination. She twitched at the word that he had spoken and started flailing her arms around in a panicked manner.

"I-I didn't mean to s-see anything!" Kumokawa stuttered. At this point, Touma could honestly swear that there was steam coming out of her ears as her face was tomato red. He could only _barely_ keep his poker face on to make sure she didn't catch on.

"It was an accideeeeeeennnnnnnntttttttttttt!" Seria yelled as she quickly ran and slammed the door behind her, the embarrassment and hormones becoming too much for her.

"…Pfft." Kamijou bit his lip to hold back his laughter, his form shuddering as he clutched his sides. After a few more moments, he couldn't resist.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Touma laughed uncontrollably, falling down onto the floor and beginning to roll from side to side. "Se-Senpai-HAHAHAHAHAHA!-Senpai is s-so fun to-HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!-so fun to tease! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Touma continued to laugh, his melancholy from the reminiscing of his past quickly vanishing under the sheer hilarity of what he had just done. The spiky-haired boy had managed to actually fluster _the_ Kumokawa Seria, turning her into nothing more than a blushing school girl.

"HAHAHAHAHAHaHaHahehehehe…." Touma smiled as his laughter finally died down. Getting up off the floor, he moved about his room again to begin preparing for a nice day of relaxation with his family and senpai.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"I should have known that there would be payback." Kamijou muttered in a broken tone, curled in the fetal position under a large umbrella. He was dressed in a T-shirt and swimming trunks as his parents had decided to take them all out to go to the beach that day. The reason for Touma's newly-acquired trauma had been a sight that he was most certainly _not_ prepared for.

It had been his mother's swimsuit.

'_A SON IS NOT SUPPOSED TO SEE HIS MOTHER IN SOMETHING SO SKIMPYYYYYYYY!_' Kamijou screamed internally, making nonsensical mutterings with his eyes holding the look of a shell-shocked war veteran. To add even further to his horror, it seemed like his dad didn't mind the incredibly skimpy bikini that his wife word.

In fact, it had looked like Touya was barely holding himself back from taking Shiina back to their rented room at the inn near the beach and possibly begin to make Touma a younger sibling.

"Hm? Touma? What are you doing under there?" Seria asked curiously as she came over to him. The often-misfortunate boy didn't hear her voice, as his mind was still going through a miniature session of PTSD. Under normal circumstances, he would try to pay attention.

Even more so when his attractive senpai was wearing a black bikini.

"Oi." Kumokawa crouched down in front of Touma, peering at his shadowed face. She sighed and decided that words weren't the solution to the problem. Seria flicked his forehead.

He was startled out of his stupor and his gaze became attracted to the most appealing thing that his eyes unintentionally found. His blue eyes rose up from his previously-ducked head and immediately caught onto Seria's cleavage that was being revealed by her swimsuit.

Touma could feel his face heat up as his mind went back into the proverbial equivalent of a blue screen. Jaw dropping and eyes widening, the spiky-haired boy only had one thing to say as the traumatic sight he suffered from earlier became overwritten by what he was now seeing.

"Well, that's a pleasant sight to see…." Kamijou muttered in a daze, making Kumokawa blink in confusion. Her own cheeks turned pink as she realized where Touma was looking.

A normal girl would have just gone 'Kyaaaa!' and slapped the boy for looking. Seria, on the other hand, could only revel in the satisfaction that she had made the boy she held attraction to look at her 'assets' like that. She knew too well that Touma was too nice to just shamelessly ogle a girl's endowments. But….

'_Although, it would be nice if he looked at me like that more often…_' Kumokawa thought to herself.

Touma once again snapped out of his stupor and moved back quickly, fearing that his senpai would take justified retaliation for his blatant ogling. "S-Sorry, senpai, I didn't mean to look!" He apologized while getting ready to bolt back to his room at the inn.

"W-Well, it's also my fault for showing that." Kumokawa responded convincingly, completely unapologetic at showing off her 'assets'-even if it _was_ unintentional- to him. It was rare that she got opportunities to be alone with Kamijou, and even more so now that his family had gone off to other parts of the beach.

She had seen earlier that his parents had snuck off with a devious look in their eyes that was aimed at her and their son, knowing that 'something' would happen between the two if they left. Touma's rather adorable gray-haired little cousin had swam off in a raft, but Seria made sure to see whether or not she would go out too far.

'_CHANCE!_' Kumokawa thought in victory as she gave a small pump of the fist, giving a small grin. Luckily, she was facing away from Kamijou so he wouldn't see her grinning deviously.

"Toumaaaaa~," Seria called out happily, making the boy even more tense than he already was at that tone in her voice.

Kamijou knew that tone. Oh, he knew it better than he ever really wanted to. It was the same kind of sly tone that Kanzaki Kaori had when she had been intoxicated on anesthesia.

"You're not mad?" Touma asked cautiously. Kumokawa's smile only grew even wider and responded to his question, "Oh? Don't worry; this senpai can forgive the mistakes of her kohai.

"Now, there's something I'd like you to do for me." Seria said, hoping that he would accept her request. Kamijou raised an eyebrow as he gradually relaxed, wondering what he was going to be asked to do. He nodded slowly, making her brighten.

"Great! Come with me, then." Kumokawa motioned for him to follow her. Touma sighed and just decided to follow to save himself the headache.

When his senpai finally stopped, Kamijou looked at her questioningly. His eyes caught onto two items that Seria had somehow procured along their walk. The spiky-haired boy twitched as he that it was a beach towel and a bottle of what looked to be….

'_Is that lotion?... No. No way. Is this perhaps a rare event?_' Kamijou thought, his mind going down into what could only be mind-blowing (in the good way) possibilities of what might happen. '_Did I go down a secret route on the beach!? There's no way that this Kamijou-san with the strange luck could have the fortune of unlocking the "Rubbing lotion on a girl's back" evennnnnnttttttttt!_'

As Touma's mind was going through inner turmoil, Kumokawa set the bottle down and grabbed the towel with both hands. She unfurled it and spread the towel out, making sure to pat it down. Seria proceeded to lie down on her stomach, spreading her whole body on the towel and getting comfortable.

"Touma." She spoke, making the spiky-haired boy come out of his thoughts and look down at where her voice came from. Touma became baffled as his suspicions became confirmed by the position that his senpai had taken.

'_IT'S TRUE!? IT'S REALLY GOING DOWN THAT ROUUUUTTTTTTTTEEEEEEE!_' Touma thought in part-excitement and part-nervousness. Kamijou knew that Aogami would do his level best to murder him if he ever found out what the spiky-haired boy was doing with their beautiful senpai.

"Would you mind spreading some lotion on my back?" Seria asked, getting a bit nervous herself at what she doing. Her blush was intensifying at what she was doing. '_I'm really doing this! No backing down!_' She brought her hands behind her back up to the strings that was holding her bikini top up.

Kamijou kept following her hands as they untied the strings. He swore that he could hear a chorus of angels singing as Kumokawa moved the strings out of the way and revealed the completely smooth back. Touma gulped, trying not to look over the luscious body of Seria.

"A-Are you going to start anytime soon?" The girl stuttered a bit, still feeling the heat on her face.

"Right, let's do this." Touma muttered quietly as he flexed his fingers, still remembering an old series of exercises and techniques that he had gotten from a particularly good learning experience when he went to India a few years back with his parents.

While Kamijou was there, he had gotten separated from his parents on a mountain hike and had somehow gotten the fortune (?) of discovering a Hindu monk temple with the residents allowing him to stay. To give them thanks for helping him, Touma had assisted them with some of the work requiring heavy lifting and had garnered their interest in his immense strength.

After finding his parents and getting their reluctant permission, Kamijou had spent nearly his entire summer vacation that year learning how to become more flexible and move around easier in case he ever got into a situation that would require a quick and tricky get-away.

Conveniently enough, he'd finished all of the required exercises earlier than expected and had gotten instruction on how to give a 'relaxing' massage. Although, the girls (Why it was always girls, Touma could only wonder) had always acted rather strange after he had finished practicing on them. He had apparently been talented enough to get the maximum results out of the massage techniques and it had been rather easy to practice because there had literally been lines of girls eager to help him.

What Kamijou did not know was that he had been taught how to give a specialized type of Indian erotic massage that was only taught at that temple.

The pressure points he had been taught to press caused an extreme jabs of pleasure in the girl he was applying the massage to. The rubbing motions Touma's hands would affect the female body in such a way that it would make their bodies extra sensitive to his attentive ministrations. Combined with the firm strength of Kamijou's hands, it was only a wonder why none of the girls back at the temple had tried to have the spiky-haired boy learn the more 'esoteric' arts of pleasure.

Touma grabbed the bottle in the sand and sat down on his knees by Kumokawa's side. He opened it up, squeezed a bit of lotion onto the girl's back, and took a deep breath to clear his mind before he started to spread it. He put his hands on her back and began to rub the lotion all the way from Seria's lower back to the nape of her neck with the practiced motions of a professional.

Kumokawa Seria knew that having lotion spread on her back would feel nice, but she wasn't expecting that pleasurable heat that Touma's hands were rubbing into her. Her blush became even darker as she bit her lip to stop herself from moaning.

'_When did he learn how to give a massage? I'm pretty sure that this is scenario number twelve…._' Seria thought dimly, her mind being overcome by the pleasure. A little guilty pastime of hers when she had free time was making up different scenarios where she and Touma would be alone and begin to do things that only the raunchiest and depraved people would do.

Scenario number twelve would begin innocently –or not so innocently…- with Kamijou just rubbing lotion on her back. Then her feet and legs. Next she would sit in his lap with him massaging her arms and breasts. His hands would proceed to her stomach after that and finally, he would slowly and tantalizingly move downward to her-

'_T-Too much! If this keeps up, I won't be able to hold back anymore!_' Kumokawa thought, her thoughts taking a rating turn from PG-13 to triple X. At that moment, Touma struck a certain pressure point that sent a mind-numbing wave of pleasure throughout her body. '_….Then again…. Touma _does_ prefer the onee-san type with big breasts, right?... I already have that, so maybe he wouldn't mind doing _that_ with me….._'

Kamijou's gaze moved up from his diligent work on Kumokawa's back and stopped as he saw something that he didn't like.

Earlier before he had been traumatized by the sight of his young-looking mother in a skimpy bikini, Touma had helped Otohime with inflating her raft and had made sure to get a promise out of her that she wouldn't go too far out. It now seemed that either by accident or on purpose, his little cousin had done precisely that. He usually wouldn't be that angry, but what he was seeing was practically mashing down on his 'Cut loose and end _everything_' buttons.

Tatsugami Otohime's raft was currently being surrounded by a school of sharks.

"Senpai," Touma started in an eerily calm tone.

"Mmm?" Kumokawa responded with a hum, trying to make sure that it didn't come out as an incredibly erotic moan. When Touma had stopped his ministrations, he had begun to press down firmly on yet another pressure point that was steadily bringing her closer to a numb ecstasy. Her head moved up and she saw what the cause of him stopping the massage was and her eyes widened.

"Tell my parents that we're having barbecued shark meat tonight." Kamijou continued, still looking completely calm and collected.

Seria didn't exactly know whether the chill going up her spine was from apprehension or excitement. She decided to go with both, seeing as Touma's serious attitude was bringing her _that_ much closer to the edge and _over_ it as well.

Kamijou removed his hands from her back, making the girl miss the warmth as the spiky-haired boy walked forward a bit. He stopped and slowly took on the position of a profession runner who was about to start a race.

"Senpai," He said, garnering Kumokawa's attention while she was staring.

"Yes?" She asked, tying the strings on the back of her top and slowly getting up.

"Quit staring at my ass." Kamijou asked seriously.

Then he _moved_.

The kick-off he made had blasted up a large cloud of sand in the air as Seria moved back quickly to make sure she didn't catch any of it.

"… In my defense, your ass is too nice for me to _not_ look at." Kumokawa murmured with a pout and a blush on her cheeks.

"Nya? Senpai, what are you doing at the beach?" A suspiciously familiar voice asked behind her, causing the girl to look.

One of Seria's eyebrows rose and she started, "You….."

"So, how are you enjoying the beach, nyahh?" Tsuchimikado Motoharu greeted, a mischievous grin glued onto his face. That was not what surprised her though. What surprised her was the unorthodox trio that was trailing behind the blonde boy.

It was a tall, buxom girl with long dark hair done into a ponytail and easily shouldering a large case measuring in at least 2 meters, a young boy with red hair, and a girl with long silver hair.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma slowly came out of the water with a stony expression on his face and Tatsugami Otohime riding on his shoulders while gripping onto his spiky hair to make sure she didn't fall off. In Touma's left hand was a rope that extended far into the water.

As he walked onto the sand, the rope revealed that it was tied to a long trail of dead sharks that looked like they had just been battered by rocks that had struck them at sonic speed. That is, if the rocks were shaped like human fists. There were deep imprints on the sharks' sides that matched the shape of Touma's fist when it was bunched into a fist.

"Senpai, I'm ba-… Tsuchimikado, what are you doing here?" Touma questioned, his serious attitude changing into an innocent curiosity.

The blonde boy was too busy staring at the trail of dead sharks and started shuddering. He looked apprehensively at Kamijou.

"K-Kami-yan what's that behind you?" Tsuchimikado asked reluctantly, wanting to confirm that they really were sharks. Normally, he would rant about why the spiky-haired boy's little cousin was being given a ride on his shoulders, but the seemingly battered sea predators was startling him.

"Dinner." Kamijou answered with a straight face as he knelt down to let Otohime get off his shoulders, making Motoharu and the other with him blanch at the spiky-haired boy's blunt statement while pitying the dead animals. Touma brightened and gave a broad smile as he saw the other new additions that came with Tsuchimikado.

"Hey, I haven't seen you guys in a while." He greeted cheerfully, looking them over. Index gave a wide smile and wave of the hand and Stiyl gave an awkward cough with a reluctant greeting. His eyes moved over to Kanzaki and his jaw dropped as he saw her swimsuit.

"W-What? I-Is this type of swimwear weird?" Kanzaki Kaori asked with an embarrassed blush, trying -and failing miserably- to cover up the monokini she was wearing. It revealed her sides and an obscene amount of cleavage, emphasizing her slim and buxom figure.

"N-No! In fact, it looks g-great." Kamijou said, his face red as he couldn't help looking at the way the swimwear wrapped onto Kanzaki's body.

"R-Really? That's good…." Kaori breathed out a sigh of relief, relaxing a bit. Although, her blush had only intensified at Touma's compliment.

Kumokawa watched from the side with an intense look of concentration at Kanzaki's attire and a contemplative hand on her chin.

'_So that's how it is…. It seems like Touma has raised the flag of another big-breasted onee-san type….Okay then, but don't think I'll lose…_'

'_Rival!_' Seria finished her thoughts with a sharp look directed towards Kanzaki, who was still flustered and oblivious.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Well, not much plot progression on this chapter…..

But I guess the fanservice makes up for it? I'll leave that to the readers to decide.

Blargh. I hadn't thought the chapter would turn out like this at all. At first, I was going to save the major exposition on Touma's past until the climax of this Arc got nearer, but what can you do?

Not much to say except I wonder whether if this chapter is alright or not. Did I manage to balance the fanservice, shiptease, and serious exposition well or did I just bomb the entire thing?

Leave a review, please.

Signing off for now-Loopsey


	11. A Revelation of the Unholy Kind

Pre-Chapter Notes: Hello once again, my faithful reviewers. Before we start the chapter, I'd like to say that I will not be doing the Review-Answering Segment or Spoilers Segment anymore because it honestly gets a bit tiring after writing chapters….

Anyways, rejoice! For I have brought you all yet another chapter of my story!

Time to get the ball rolling!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Tsuchimikado Motoharu wasn't entirely sure how Kamijou Touma 'worked', so to speak. He was supposed to be one of the best spies in Europe, and yet…

Kamijou Touma still remained an anomaly.

He looked like a normal highschool boy. He acted like a normal highschool boy. He seemed like a normal highschool boy.

Tsuchimikado liked to contradict people if they ever said that Kamijou Touma was normal.

He knew that Kamijou was powerful. How powerful, the blonde boy didn't know. The only estimate he could make was…..

If Kamijou Touma were to make an attempt to destroy the world, he would most likely succeed.

Luckily, Kamijou (or 'Kami-yan', as Tsuchimikado often called him) still held the mentality of a sensible person.

But Tsuchimikado could not help but think, '_How long?_'

He wondered how long or how much it would take for Kamijou Touma to finally snap and do something that would leave the world in cinders.

He stashed those concerns away for the time being. And now, all he could think was…

)))))) Line Break ((((((

'_He did it!? He actually went through with cooking the shark meeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaattttttt!?_' Tsuchimikado screamed internally while staring up at the night sky, refusing to look down at his plate of freshly barbecued and _marinated (!?)_ shark steak.

He and the others had to do a bit of heavy lifting to bring the tables, chairs, and barbecue grill outside. But the effort had been worth it, as everybody could now enjoy a nice, hot meal after a fun day while looking at the starry night sky.

The blonde spy brought his gaze to the people around him, their expressions not disturbed like his own. They weren't grimacing at the meat, no, it was nothing like that.

Everybody (Besides the Kamijou family, that is. They were used to strange things happening.) was still stuck on the part where Touma somehow battered a school of sharks to death (Some of them, Otohime later stated, had been beaten to death with _each other_) and actually followed through on his statement of making the sea predators being their dinner that night.

Nobody was entirely sure where he managed to stash the skins, bones, and other remains of the sharks. The most that even his own parents could get out of him had been a sly smirk and a blunt statement of, 'Hey, you never know when you're going to need some shark stuff on hand, right?'

Index had thankfully decided to none-too-subtly shift the subject by giving her opinion on the meal. As it turned out, tenderized (by Touma's overprotective-brother brutality) and marinated (that time, by him and his parents' cooking expertise.) shark meat tended to taste surprisingly similar to high-quality beef.

"This…. is actually really good…." Stiyl Magnus said with surprise evident in his voice as he began to take the first bite of the shark kebab that Touma and his parents had prepared.

He had long-since forgone the habit of using illusions to mask his young appearance, seeing as Kamijou could just dispel it with the flick of the wrist. Stiyl marveled at Index, who had taken about three of every food upon it being delivered to them.

"….I didn't know that shark meat could actually have such a variety of recipes to be cooked with." Kanzaki Kaori murmured lightly, fork still in her mouth as she relished the taste of the shark steak.

She was somewhat thankful that the Kamijou family had been kind enough to allow her to change out of _that_ swimsuit (Even _thinking_ about it made her face flush until it was tomato red) into something a little more appropriate for dining. As it was, the Saint had just changed back into her usual attire of a tied-up white T-shirt, jeans with one leg cut off, and cowboy boots.

"Well, shame on all of you for thinking that something was impossible for a Kamijou." Kumokawa Seria teased with a snicker, enjoying her own plate of kebabs. She had to do _something_ to keep her mind off of another newly created scenario, in which it included Chef Touma, a variety of sauces, and herself as the dish that he would 'eat'…..

'_Damnit, not again!_' Kumokawa thought in frustration, quickly snatching some napkins to stem her oncoming nosebleed before anybody could see it. That occasion hadn't been the first (and will most certainly _not_ be the last) where she'd gotten too carried away with her fantasizing and would accidentally 'spring a red leak in her nostrils'.

"Thish ish sho _gud_." Index said through a stuffed mouth, praising the food as she steadily ate all of it. The human keeper of grimoires was greatly gladdened to see Kamijou Touma in good health, as she still felt a tad guilty at the mess she had dragged him into. Being there on a vacation with Stiyl and Kanzaki made the entire occasion even better for the silver-haired girl.

"Oh my, it's nice to know that Touma-chan's friends like the food." Kamijou Shiina spoke with a delighted smile, bringing a hand up to her cheek. She'd already changed into something other than the swimsuit that had traumatized her son, as he had practically begged her to do it before they prepared dinner.

"I can only agree with my wife on that." Kamijou Touya said with a satisfied expression, still handling the large barbecue grill and all the sizzling meat on it. "And it's nothing like a good dinner party to break the ice." The man continued, inhaling the aromatic scent of the spiced shark meat and sighing with a grin. 

" 'Touma-chan?' Heh, wait 'till Aogami and the others know. " Tsuchimikado smirked, barely muffling his laughter. The other magicians sent him looks that blatantly said, 'Good luck with that.' Then they looked behind the blonde boy and paled a bit.

Although, the trio didn't stop eating the shark meat.

It was _that_ good.

Tsuchimikado felt a chill travel up his spine and could make a deduction on what spooked even the Saint, Kanzaki Kaori. "Kami-yan's right behind me, isn't he?" He asked, feeling a faint amount of dread well up in him. They nodded.

Motoharu slowly turned his neck around with a strange creak and saw, to his trepidation, that what was behind him really _was_ Kamijou Touma.

He currently had one eyebrow raised and the other one twitching. His arms were folded over his chest while tapping one foot. The posture Touma had as a whole was proverbially telling him, 'I'm waiting for an answer, y'know.'

"Y-Yo, Kami-yan." Motoharu greeted nervously, silently berating himself for stuttering. His mind was still vaguely imposing the terrifying image of what Touma had looked like when he had torn off his own arm and …..

_Kamijou stood with right shoulders oozing out blood from when he had torn his arm off._

_His left arm held the severed right limb that was also splattered in blood, still leaking a steady amount of blood onto the ground._

_Despite tearing off his own limb, he held a wide, deranged grin that showed off his blindingly white teeth and stretched back far enough to bare his unnaturally sharp canines._

_His spiky mess of dark hair shadowed the upper part of his face, revealing only his eyes, which were shifting through every shade of the color spectrum. They belied the madness that seemingly awakened underneath the mask of a normal highschool boy after taking off his right arm._

_The air around him was lively and strange, as if someone or some_thing_ was occupying the space, but not at the same time._

_The Kihara that was standing across him looked on in complete horror, frozen in fear as his legs would not heed his plea and desire to move away from the alien presence._

_The seemingly insane, spiky-haired boy opened his mouth and laughed_-

Tsuchimikado gave a shuddering gasp as Kamijou firmly clasped a hand onto his shoulder. The boy with the Imagine Breaker had a frown on his face, knowing what the blonde boy was thinking.

"Still having flashbacks?" Touma asked with a grimace, to which the blonde spy only replied with a silent and reluctant nod. The spiky-haired boy just sighed and seated himself, grabbing a considerable amount of food to pile onto his own plate.

Part of the reason why Kamijou didn't like to let the Invisible Thing out was because It had still not learned the meaning of 'restraint'. On the other hand, It seemed to have an intimate collection of knowledge on fear. Its very presence seemed to cause the emotion well enough, but if It started trying to actively make people fear….

Tsuchimikado had been only a few feet away from the Invisible Thing when It had performed the mental equivalent of a brutal mauling on the Kihara scientist. Even then, he had fully gazed upon Its visage when It materialized and let out a presence of unadulterated fear.

Even months later, he would continue to have flashbacks to the traumatic event. The aftermath had also taken quite a toll on his own mental health. The Invisible Thing had triggered a type of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder in Motoharu, much in the same vein as a shell-shocked war veteran.

He'd tried to hide it as best as he could, but Touma had figured out when the blonde had accidentally tried to use his martial arts on him in one of his episodes. After that accident, Tsuchimikado had been seeking psychological help from Heaven Canceller and had started to calm down. Although, it seemed like he would still have the occasional flashback before they would finally leave for good.

"Damn. And here I thought they'd finally leave…." Tsuchimikado cursed under his breath. His shark steak suddenly didn't seem so disturbing anymore compared to that _thing_. He was shaken out of his short bout of self-deprecation by a hard pat on the back from Kamijou's dad.

"Want a drink?" Touya offered, holding out a can of fruit juice. He'd been offering them out to everyone and now the blonde was the only one who didn't have any beverage.

"Nyahh, thanks, Kami-yan's dad." Motoharu masked his darker thoughts and accepted the can. Years of practice had assured him that control of his expressions would be all-but-second-nature to him.

"….Is Touma having any type of problem in Academy City?" The father of said teenager asked bluntly, his jovial behavior set aside for a serious grimace. The spy's fingers twitched, barely resisting the urge to just spill everything.

'_Seems like Kami-yan's not the only one who can get answers easily…._' Motoharu thought, his sunglasses shining off the stars' lights in the heavens.

Touya's shoulders sagged as he watched the blonde boy grimace and clench his fists. The older man could only give a weary groan and bring both hands up to hold his head.

"And here I foolishly thought that sending him to that place would help him." The man with the dark slicked-back hair sighed. He gave a cynical chuckle. "What did my son do to gain so much misfortune? Is it his power? Touma never even truly wanted it in the first place."

At that statement, Tsuchimikado and the other magicians grew alarmed at his apparent knowledge of it. Touya sent them a measured stare, responding to their unspoken questions.

"What? Do you think I don't know about it? I was there when he first used it." The father informed them. He beckoned over his wife, wanting her to hear the discussion that would most likely begin.

"What is it, dear?" Shiina asked curiously.

"They know." Touya stated two short words and the woman shifted into a melancholic presence. Shiina gave a breathy sigh, muttering, "How much?"

"That's what I'd like to know." Touya half-heartedly moved his head back, looking at the stars.

"…Where's Otohime-chan?" He spoke, deciding to change the subject.

The woman gave a small smile at the concern that her husband showed for their niece. "Touma-chan and Seria-chan-" At that name, Shiina grinned at the reminder of the girl's hilarious reaction to being called her son's girlfriend. "-already took her back to the inn so she could sleep." She sat down next to the man and leaned her head on his shoulder.

At that, Touya sighed with relief and a murmured, "That's good." He reached out his arm and wrapped it around Shiina, giving a relaxed smile the entire time.

The magicians stayed quiet as the couple conversed languidly, feeling that the overwhelming atmosphere of love between the two would be ruined if they spoke.

'_I guess…. maybe that's the reason why Kami-yan's still sane…._' Tsuchimikado concluded internally as he watched the loving parents.

Kamijou Touya and Kamijou Shiina were still wildly in love, even after several years of marriage. And when Kamijou Touma had been born into the world, he had been raised with that type of common, yet unique parental love that a parent would give to their child.

They had been, and still were, his anchor to reality and link to sanity. Touma's parents were still there to show him that the world wasn't so bad and that it wasn't worth destroying in the first place.

If Kamijou Touma had not gotten the support that he did from his parents, he would have surely gone insane.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Touma and Seria walked down the stone path to the hot spring baths, both carrying a change of clothes and a towel. After putting Otohime off to bed, they'd decided to just relax in their respective sections of the bath and go off to sleep.

"Touma," His father called as he stepped out of the men's section.

"Yeah, tou-san?" The addressed boy asked. Touya beckoned him closer and cupped his hands, whispering something into his son's ear.

Kumokawa could only wonder what was so important to be passed on by whispers, but dropped it and moved into the women's section of the bath.

"WHAT!?"

Touma's senpai blinked as she heard him shout, her curiosity growing as her intelligent mind prepared dozens of ideas on what could cause him to make such an outburst. Seria pressed herself up against the wall next to the entrance of the women's side, leaning her head out a bit to listen to what was being said between the father and son duo.

"Not so loud, son." Touya chuckled with an easy-going grin. The teenager was shocked by what his dad had told him.

"I'm not going to peak on the women's side." Touma spoke with a slightly panicked hiss visible in his voice, making the hidden Kumokawa blush as she realized what her kouhai's dad was telling him.

"If you're worried about your mother, then don't worry. She already went off to sleep." The older Kamijou responded, continuing to explain. "Magnus and Tsuchimikado already bathed earlier as well, so it'll only be you, your senpai, and that Kanzaki." He finished, the grin on his face becoming mischievous.

"…I think I know where I get my crazy from now." Touma murmured with his right eye twitching.

"Now, there's a hole in the wall that's big enough to look through the divider between the men and women's section. It can go both ways, so you have to be careful not to get caught. Good luck, son." Touya stated with a firm pat on his son's shoulder and a wide smile. He walked past his son, making his way back to the inn for a long night of sleep.

Touma groaned while palming his face with both hands, trying not to succumb to the guilty temptation of peeking in on the girls. He blushed as his imagination ran wild, his mind bringing up images of what his senpai and that Saint would look like while bathing.

"Damnit, tou-san…." Kamijou murmured, his eye still twitching sporadically as he entered the men's side of the bathhouse.

Meanwhile, the dark-haired girl who had listened to the conversation got an idea in her head.

It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her. How could she not take it?

And so, in a reversal of cliché anime fanservice events, the perverted girl (Kumokawa Seria) had decided to peek on the oblivious boy (Kamijou Touma).

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"This is nice…." Kanzaki sighed, leaning back against the edges of the hot spring as she felt the warm water relieving the stress in her body. To her side was, improbably enough, her nodachi, Schichiten Schichitou.

"Yes, yes, sure, the water's nice, yeah." Seria muttered absent-mindedly in agreement, looking along the wall for the peeking hole that Kamijou's father had spoken of. Out of the corner of her eye, she finally spotted the small opening in the wooden divider and grinned in satisfaction.

"Jackpot!" Kumokawa breathed quietly, feeling like there was nothing that could stop her as she inched closer to the hole. Just as she was about to put her gaze through it….

"What are you doing?" Kaori asked curiously as she raised her head up, wondering what the other buxom, dark-haired girl was doing. With her enhanced hearing, the Saint had heard what Seria had said and looked at her.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm going to peek on Touma." Kumokawa admitted shamelessly, her common sense to stay quiet or make an excuse being quickly muddled at the chance of seeing her kouhai without clothes.

"Okay, if that's all…." Kanzaki nodded slowly, lying back as she closed her eyes. Her relaxed mind finally processed what the other bathing girl had said and the Saint's eyes snapped wide.

"Wait, what!?" Kaori shouted in panic, her body moving up so fast that the water splashed around her.

"Sshhh, if you don't be quiet, he's going to hear." Seria shushed the Saint, her breathing growing heavier as she peeked through the hole. She became irritated, seeing that the mist was still too thick for her to see through.

'_What I wouldn't give to be a hydrokinetic right now…._' Kumokawa grumbled internally, thinking about the possibilities involving manipulation of water molecules to move the mist out of the way.

"Y-You shouldn't be doing that!" Kanzaki spoke hurriedly in a hushed tone, her face red, but not from the hot springs. "It's a violation of his privacy!"

"Actually, I don't think he'd mind, considering we're both his type….." The girl hailing from Academy City muttered, seeing that the mist was clearing and beginning to show the vague form of Kamijou sitting in the springs. The reason Seria knew it was him was that nobody else would have spiky hair like that, even if it was drenched.

"..E-Ehhhh!" Kaori spluttered in embarrassment, her entire body flushed from both the heat and teenage hormones. She slowly moved out of the water to get closer.

"W-Well, maybe just a quick peak… No! I can't allow this sinful travesty to stand!" She shouted, her religious virtues barely overcoming her hormones. Kanzaki reached over to grab the other girl, trying to keep her away from the hole.

"Hm? Oi!" Seria said, the volume of her voice rising slightly as her shoulders were grabbed. The girl struggled against the monstrous Saint strength that Kaori possessed, trying to wrestle her way out of the borderline-vice-grip.

"I can't allow you to do this!" Kanzaki argued, hooking her arms under Seria's and pulling her back slowly, but steadily. In the process, the girls' bodies were pressed against each other in what was an extremely inappropriate position. Adding the factors of both of them not wearing clothes and being soaked wet, any red-blooded male would pass out from blood-loss.

"Oh, don't try to fool yourself! You want this as much as I do!" Kumokawa refuted heatedly, her arms flailing out to try and grab a handle (that was not actually there) on the wooden divider.

"W-Wha! N-No, I don- Whoa!" Kanzaki began to stutter, but failed to continue as she slipped on the wet floor of the hot spring and accidentally threw Seria behind her into the water.

The Saint pitched forward and landed in an unorthodox position. That is to say, she landed on one knee and her head a few centimeters in front of the peeking hole. Her naturally enhanced eyes immediately focused onto the sight that the hole provided. On the men's side, the mist had finally cleared up and she could clearly see Touma.

However, he had proceeded to get up out of the water just as her gaze focused on him. And he wasn't wearing a towel around his waist.

Splrcht.

Blood jetted out of both of Kanzaki's nostrils as she flew backward into the water with a big splash. She surfaced moments later with a wide grin on her dazed face, floating bonelessly in the water.

"She saw it!" Kumokawa spoke quietly in a startled tone, staring in awe at the magician. Then she became angry.

'_Like hell she's going to be the only one to see him without clothes!_' The girl thought, her consideration of Kamijou completely thrown out the window.

"Oi oi oi! Wake up!" Kumokawa stormed over to the Saint, reaching down to grab the girl. She hooked one arm around Kanzaki's shoulders to pull her up and began slapping the girl's face left and right.

"Tell. Me. What. It. Looked. Like!" Seria demanded, emphasizing each word with a strong smack to the Saint's face.

"Heheheheeee, biiiiig." Kanzaki grinned perversely with blood still trailing down from her nostrils, holding out her hands flat and moving them apart at a significant distance. Her imagination, however, was occupied with _other_ ideas.

"Oof!" She grunted vaguely as she was dropped back into the water with a splash. Seria moved over to the peeking hole, feeling her desperation grow by the moment.

"C'mon c'mon c'mon, show me the moneymaker." Kumokawa started to drool out of the corner of her lip, breathing heavily as she moved her head to look through the hole. Luckily, Kamijou had still been standing into the water as he was stretching the sleepiness out of his muscles.

Frankly, Seria had somehow gotten luckier than the Saint and gotten an even better view. But the result was the same as the last time.

Splrcht.

Kumokawa rocketed back into the water, her nose also bleeding. Collapsed into the water and her grinning face barely breaking through the surface, she brought a shaky fist up and gave a small pump while saying, "Score…".

Seria's arm fell back down into the water, her imagination taking the same inappropriate turn as Kaori's. Needless to say, both of girls would not be coming back to reality any time soon.

Index walked into the room, a small smile on her face as she took in the atmosphere of the hot spring. She caught the sight of red on the ground and saw, to her shock, both of the older girls almost passed out with blood still flowing out of their noses.

"Kanzaki! Kumokawa-san!" The silver-haired girl shouted in shock, her eyes wide as she moved closer. She shook Kanzaki's shoulders, trying to bring the older girl back to full coherence.

"What happened!?" Index questioned vigorously, wondering why the two girls were bleeding.

She never knew that the cause of the bleeding had been completely harmless.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Touya moved his head up, feeling like he should give his son a manly hug.

"I'm so proud of you, son." The man murmured with a smile on his face. The other figure under the sheets he was sleeping in shifted a small bit.

"Mmm… Something wrong, dear?" Shiina asked sleepily.

Touya's smile widened into a grin at the question. "It's nothing, Shiina. I just feel like our son has done something great again."

"…Like the time when we went on vacation to the Himalayas?" His wife inquired, waking up a bit more.

"No, not like when Touma got separated from us and brought back those cozy fur coats." Touya responded, still remembering the Yeti Incident. He didn't really care that the white jackets were from the fabled Abominable Snowmen.

To be fair, they were _very_ cozy coats.

"I think Touma's love life just became a bit better." The man spoke, making the woman blink.

"Is that so? That's good…" Shiina smiled, her eyes closing as she yawned. "Good night, Touya."

"Good night, honey." The father said as he went back under the sheets again.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou frowned as he opened the door to his room, toweling off his black hair. During his time in the hot spring, he'd felt like very perverse and invasive eyes staring at him. The spiky-haired boy had shaken it off, feeling like it had just been his paranoia acting up again.

"Maybe I need to visit doc again…" Touma murmured, entertaining the idea of calling up the Heaven Canceller to arrange a psychological appointment.

He put one foot into his room and _froze_.

Something was wrong. Horribly, horribly _wrong_.

Another person was in the room.

'_But who?_' Kamijou narrowed his eyes as he allowed his senses to become sharper. His eyes then snapped wide as he realized that the presence had an oddity.

The person was not human, or at the very least, was radiating enough pure evil to make Touma label it as demonic.

"Come on out. I already know you're here." Kamijou called out, clenching his fists and teeth. He hadn't lived as long as he did without relying on his gut feeling.

A dark, raspy series of breathing began to echo in the darkness of the room, confirming the sixteen-year-old's suspicions. "**Well, I suppose that humans can be quite perceptive…**"

The shadows of the room began to shift, becoming darker as inhuman whispers filled the room. A feeling of malevolence clogged up the room as something, or more specifically, someone _oozed_ out of the darkness.

"… **for animals, that is.**" Hino Jinsaku sneered, holding a farming sickle in his right hand and his left…..

His left hand held no appearance that could be called human. The pale skin that covered the rest of the man's body was in a more sickening shade of gray, black veins bulging spastically all over the hand up to the forearm. The feeling of evil that permeated the room seemed to be the densest around the arm-shaped abomination.

If anything could be called demonic at the moment, it would be the left arm of Hino Jinsaku.

"Such misfortune…" Touma grunted, remembering the man in front of him from an old news segment.

The man was a famous serial killer in his own right, having evaded capture for a considerable amount of time before finally being caught. He hadn't gone down easily, spilling a large amount of police force's blood in the process.

"…Grk!" Hino choked, his body convulsing and beady eyes shifting in all directions. "A-Akuma-sama! Please allow this lowly one to present Akuma-sama with a worthy sacrifice!"

He jabbed his sickle in Kamijou's direction, making the boy move back with caution. "I can see it! His blood… Oh, his blood! Akuma-sama, his blood would bring you great glory!" Jinsaku hissed with reverence, begging the unknown 'Akuma-sama' to allow him to begin killing. His voice distorted back into the deeper baritone of the unknown entity that had possessed him.

"**Hmm….**" 'Akuma-sama' contemplated. "**….Very well, spill his blood. But! Should you fail, there will be **_**consequences**_**.**"

Even Touma had to get a chill up his spine at the implications from the entity's statement.

'_What is he…_' Kamijou thought, his mind working at incomprehensible speeds to figure out the mystery of who 'Akuma-sama' was. He could bring up a few names, but he needed confirmation first.

"Of course, Akuma-sama! This lowly one will not fail!" Jinsaku shuddered as control returned to his body. He devoted his beady gaze over to the disturbed Touma.

"You! Prepare your bloooodddddd!" Hino screeched as he lunged forward, swinging the sickle to attempt decapitation on Kamijou.

"If you think my blood will spill that easily, then I'm going to destroy that fucked up delusion of yours." Touma growled as he smoothly slid out of the way. He grabbed the pale wrist of the murderer, easily flinging the murderer away with his immense strength.

Jinsaku flew through the air and slammed into the wall of Kamijou's room, splintering the wood. He grunted as he messily dislodged himself out of the wall, flinging the sickle with expert precision. The sharp farming tool-turned-murder-instrument spun through the air like a boomerang, aiming to separate Touma's head from his body.

Kamijou leaned back, the sharp and shining blade whistling past his face. It continued its path through the room, slamming into the wall with a loud 'thunk'. Touma looked back worriedly to it, still feeling the chill that told him that not even his nigh-invulnerable skin might have been able to stop the blade.

His senses screamed at him, causing the spiky-haired boy to stick out his right hand as a dark-purple something was dispelled by the Imagine Breaker.

"Why… Why has the boon that Akuma-sama granted not killed you yet!?" Jinsaku hissed, his left hand having black smoke curling off of it.

"No matter. I must spill your blood!" The man continued, the fingertips of his left hand crackling purple energy. Hino dislodged himself from the wall, ignoring the profuse bleeding from the splintered planks of wood. As he made his way towards the readied Kamijou….

CRACK!

Thud.

"Nobody's spilling my son's blood." Touya growled, clutching the broom that he'd broken over the serial killer's head. The father had heard the ruckus from his son's room and grabbed the cleaning instrument along the way to check out what was going on.

"Tou-san!" Touma spoke, surprise evident in his voice. He hadn't been expecting _that_ to happen.

Before he could continue to question his dad, the man grabbed his son's shoulders and looked him over with concern. Touya asked, "Touma, what happened? Are you hurt? _Please_ tell me you're not hurt."

"Tou-san, tou-san! Don't worry." The spiky-haired boy placated his father. "Look, I'm not bleeding…. If anything, the only blood spilt was his." Touma pointed to the downed Jinsaku, whose blood was starting to pool around his wound.

Kanzaki suddenly burst into the room, her sword primed to slice up anything that got in her way. Her steely gaze focused on the two Kamijou males and the unconscious killer. "Are you two alright?" Kaori asked, her hands still gripping Schichiten Schichitou tightly.

"…**Heh…**" Hino spoke up suddenly, making the other three move back as quickly as possible. "**Hehehe….HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!**" The middle-aged man bellowed his laughter in a demonic voice.

"What's going on!?" Stiyl ran in with Index, his chant to summon Innocentius already on the tip of his tongue. The fourteen-year-olds flinched back with slight fear as they saw the serial killer get back up.

Jinsaku's face was giving a face-splitting sneer, his beady eyes blazing a sickening violet. The other recipients of the room all knew that what they were seeing was not a man, but a corrupt entity of unholy origins occupying a human's body.

"**Amusing, amusing, amusing!**" The thing-wearing-Hino's-body began as he sneered at the humans in the room. "**Truly, you pitiful beasts are so amusing to view.**"

"What are you?" Touya took the initiative with a question, fearlessly facing off with the malevolent being.

"**Oh? So, one of the beasts can bark.**" The demonic being continued, his head tilting back to look down upon the Kamijou. "**If you must know….**

"**I AM UNHOLY.**

"**I AM FALLEN.**

"**I AM THE LORD OF DESTRUCTION.**

"**I. AM. BAAL.**" The now-identified Demon Lord finished, the evil pressure in the room becoming even thicker than before.

"I don't care if you were the Fallen Morning Star or the Voice of God..." Touya spoke in a cold tone, shocking every person in the room. "But if you come into this home expecting to be treated like a king, then you'll find yourself sorely disappointed."

"…**You…**" Baal hissed, the face that he was using contorting in disgust at the man. "**You do not seem to know who you're dealing with.**"

"Oh, I know. I just _don't give a fuck._" Touya spoke, putting extra emphasis on the last part of his statement. His anger was overriding his common sense, seeing as the thing in front of him had tried to kill his son.

"**GRAHHHHHHHHH!**" Baal roared in rage, his demonic power bursting out of Hino's body and causing the building to quake.

"**I will have your soul for this, human, just you wait…**" The Lord of Destruction swore, but his sneer resurfaced on the body he was possessing. "**But for now…**" 

"**Know fear.**

"**Embrace despair.**

"**For the Devil Rise is coming. It is inevitable. And you all shall make fine sacrifices for it.**" Baal leered at each and every person, already imagining the possibilities of the destruction he would cause.

"**Now I shall leave you with a little parting gift. I hope that it gives quite the bang. Farewell for now, humans.**" Baal finished speaking, retracting his presence and inserting a hefty amount of corrupted mana in Jinsaku's body.

"Ughhh, Akuma-sama? Akuma-sama!" Hino yelled in alarm, feeling like his body was being flayed alive. Purple bursts of energy came off different portions of the killer's body, the unstable energies quickly breaking him down.

"Has this lowly one not served you well!? Akuma-samaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" Jinsaku wailed as his body started to fail him and vibrate spasmodically. Finally, his body was disintegrated as a conflagration of purple flames began to spread.

"Everybody get down!" Touma shouted, pushing his hands out in front of him and expanding the Imagine Breaker. An impossibly large explosion engulfed the room, the force of it making everybody fly back against the wall.

As the smoke settled down and a variety of coughs rang out, everybody in the room slowly got up. They looked towards the center of the explosion and saw that Touma was still standing.

"Touma!" The boy's father called out in alarm as he ran towards his son. Touya saw, to his horror, that while the spiky-haired boy was still standing, the skin on his arms had been charred black from the demonically-powered explosion.

'_Damnitall!_' Touya berated himself before turning his attention to everybody else. "Are all of you alright?"

"Y-Yes, I suppose…" Kaori grunted as she used her longsword to pick herself up off the ground.

A set of hurried footsteps was heard and a bedraggled Tsuchimikado came into the room. He looked around with a grimace, seeing the charred ceiling, floor, and walls.

"It's a wonder nothing caught on fire… Nevermind that, are all of you fine?" Motoharu asked with worry, his verbal tic dropped as his more serious side came to light.

"No, we're not fine!" Stiyl spouted as he dusted off his sleeping clothes.

"There's a freakin' Demon Lord on the island!" The fire magician informed the blonde spy, making him as pale as the other residents of the room.

"Shit shit shit shiiiiiiittttt." Tsuchimikado cursed repeatedly, bringing his hands up to clutch his head.

"Would somebody mind telling me what the _hell_ is going!?" Touya spoke up, tired of not getting any answers.

The magicians and Touma all exchanged glances and the spiky-haired boy sighed in defeat.

"Tou-san, there's something I have to tell you. Magic is real…" The teenager began his explanation to his father, leaving nothing out.

The night drew out for a long while as the wielder of the Imagine Breaker and the other magicians filled in Touya on the more supernatural elements of the world.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: It seems like every chapter is getting harder and harder to write. Damn, pulling an AU Arc out of my ass probably wasn't my best idea…

Oh well. Time to sum things up.

The Lord of Destruction, Baal, is the Demon Lord that is going to be the antagonist. The Demon Lords could, in my eyes, be seen as the unholy counterparts of the Archangels. But they don't have nearly as much power because a significant portion of their power was lost when they fell from Heaven.

Although, Baal is still going to be a tough guy to beat.

Man, I really shifted the mood a lot of times in this chapter….

Did I do everything well in chapter?

Leave a review as feedback, please.

Signing off for now-Loopsey


	12. Destructive Endgame

Pre-Chapter Notes: Hullo, everybody~. I bring to you yet another chapter of this story.

And judging from your reviews, I guess you really like what I did with the sharks, eh?

Meh, not much to say right now, so just start reading. Oh, one last thing that I've been forgetting to put 'till now.

Disclaimer: I don't own To Aru Majutsu No Index. Kazuma Kamachi does.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touya was stumped. He knew that his son would be facing some strange situations after _that_ incident, but he didn't think it would involve _magic_ of all things.

"It seems like your misfortune is seriously acting up again, son." Touya sighed deeply as he ran a hand through his hair, still processing the hurried explanation that his son and the others had given him.

"Oi, do you think this Kamijou-san likes it either? I was actually thinking that I'd get to enjoy a relaxing vacation with family and friends, but nooo, there's suddenly a Demon Lord popping up! I mean, really, what's up with that!?" Touma ranted with anger visible on his face, voicing a rhetorical question to the other people in the destroyed room.

"The 'why' of the matter doesn't need to be answered right now, Kami-yan." Tsuchimikado responded, one hand up to cup his chin as his mind was going through the information that was present. "What we need to figure out is 'what' Devil Rise is, and 'where' it's going to take place so we can stop it. The 'how', as in, how can we stop it is actually rather easy." The blonde spy gave a pointed look towards the still-charred right hand of the spiky-haired boy.

"I think I can help with Devil Rise." Index spoke for the first time since entering the room. She remained calm, even when all eyes turned to her. The girl with the eldritch knowledge entered a daze for a moment, accessing the large reserve of grimoires in her head. The silver-haired girl gasped and clutched her head, looking pale and sweating profusely.

"What is it?" Kanzaki frowned, dreading what kind of information could make Index to react like that.

"The Devil Rise is a ritual that synchronizes the frequencies of Hell and Earth, causing a dimensional rift to open and allow the residents of each world to perceive and interact with the other. With it, Baal can call an army of demons from hell and possibly even bring out other Demon Lords like him." Index informed gravely, the proverbial bomb shell causing horror in everybody.

"Okay, I can kind of understand that, but…" Touya began with a contemplative frown. "Why did this 'Baal' unveil that to us when there's the chance that we can stop it?"

"Even if he primarily holds dominion over the concept of Destruction, all demons have pride running through them. What you said to him-that was pretty ballsy, by the way, just what I'd expect from Kami-yan's dad-probably pissed Baal off and made him reveal that tidbit." Tsuchimikado continued, his frown growing into a scowl.

"We don't know where it's taking place and we'll lose precious time finding it. If we can find and destroy the magic circle that's causing the ritual to take place, we can end this entire thing before the gates of Hell open up and start spitting out demons." Stiyl added, almost shuddering at the implications of Earth being infested by scores of demons.

"Let's just stop this talking for now, seeing as this has been going on for a while." Kamijou proposed. "Besides, I'm pretty sure we all need to get some sl-" He looked over to the large hole in the wall of his bedroom that was caused from the demonic explosion and saw sunlight shining through. During the long conversation, it seemed that enough time had passed for the night to pass and the sun to come up.

"-eep…" Touma finished blandly, his right eye twitching. After two minutes of resisting the urge to scream, he sighed and raised his arms in surrender. "Y'know what? I give up. Let's just find the goddamn demon –no pun intended- and smack him around already."

Kumokawa and Shiina came into the room and their eyes widened, seeing the destruction and everybody covered in black dust.

"Oh my!" The mother spoke first, the tone of her voice giving away the fact that she was disturbed. "What happened in here?"

"What she said." Seria said simply and her gaze landed on the burnt arms of Kamijou Touma. Her eyes widened and she came closer to inspect the wound.

"Touma." Kumokawa started quietly. The teenager felt a small bit of trepidation from the dangerous undertones in his senpai's voice.

"What-" She said, grabbing Kamijou's arms and bringing them up for everybody to see. "-is this!? Why haven't you gotten any medical attention yet!? You need this treated!" Kumokawa scolded the boy.

Touma held a sheepish expression and decided to try and stop Seria from taking her rant any further. "I needed to stop an explosion and I guess the Imagine Breaker wasn't enough. Besides, my arms are already healing, aren't they?" He pointed out, making everybody confused.

Seria could only frown at his nonchalant attitude regarding the burns. "What do you mea…." She started, her gaze once again going down to his arms. The other people in the room also looked down to it, doing a double take at what they were seeing.

Like Touma said, his arms were healing. The burns had extended up to his elbows, making his arms coal black in color. There was steam being expelled off the entirety of his arms, black flakes somehow peeling themselves off the arm and revealing unscathed skin underneath.

"Hmm… This is going a bit fast for my taste. I have to speed it up a bit…" Kamijou murmured, his eyes beginning to glow faintly. His arms expelled even more steam and the burns disappeared entirely, showing the completely undamaged skin. The pile of dead skin flakes on the floor had dissolved into nothing, leaving behind no traces that it had ever existed in the first place.

"…Okay, then. Let's all pretend that never happened." Motoharu spoke slowly, trying to repress what he had just seen.

"Agreed." Everybody sans Touma chorused, making the spiky-haired boy look at them in confusion.

"Alright, so let's all split up and do our best to find the location of the magic circles for the Devil Rise." Tsuchimikado announced, clasping his hands together. He smirked darkly, the sunlight in the room reflecting off of his sunglasses.

"Let's find us a devil." Touma muttered with narrowed eyes as everybody went into separate directions.

That is, they would have, if not for…

"Can somebody _please_ tell me what's going?" Shiina spoke with a chilling smile on her face.

'_Scary!_' The other people in the room thought.

"W-Well…" Stiyl stuttered, barely able to go through a repeat of the explanation that they had given to Touma's father. It took longer than necessary, seeing as he was becoming fearful by seeing what he swore was a dark purple aura surrounding the woman.

While it wasn't demonic, the aura around her was terrifying and everybody had already snuck off to begin the search, thankful to get away from the mother.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Now if I was a magic circle that would cause an unholy space distortion, where would I be?" Index murmured as she moved throughout the forests of the island. While there was the likely chance that she might be ambushed by an unholy aberration, her Walking Church could easily repel their evil presence with its holy aura and defenses.

She stopped for a moment, feeling the air lower by at least twenty degrees. The silver-haired girl's nose scrunched up, smelling a disgusting scent. "I think I found it…" She whispered, pushing through a particularly thick bundle of shrubbery.

After sixteen minutes of brisk walking, Index found a sight that set off every alarm bell in her head. It was the magic circle that she needed to find and it held the pretense of a bad omen.

The magic circle was not crafted by a human. No human could have such extensive understanding of the complexity in that circle that the human holder of grimoires was seeing with her eyes. It looked quite similar to the diagram that was popping up in Index's mind, immediately spotting and comparing the differences between the designs.

The one in the grimoire was crafted by human hands attempting to imitate the language of demons, but having to supplement it with occult symbols associated with the devil and unholiness in order to invoke the space distortion between Hell and Earth.

The one etched into the ground before her, however, had no such symbols and was instead completely rife with markings of demons. Index could tell that if the ritual was allowed to be executed, it would take a Magic God or even the Archangel Michael to stop the travesty taking place on Earth.

She quickly began rifling through the eldritch knowledge in her head again, trying to find a counter for the Devil Rise.

First, there would have to be the proper use of symbols that completely contradicted demons. In other words, Index would have to invoke the holiness of the Christian cross. It was luck that she happened to have one of them on hand, hidden under her Walking Church. Said holy robes would also be a greatly added boon in destroying the unholy ritual.

The silver-haired girl reached into her robes and pulled out the aforementioned holy symbol, quickly beginning a chant. A convenient way to counteract demons and bad omens in general could be found in the Bible, the text in it acting as venom for the corrupted beings.

At the end of her chant, the magic circle distorted in a menagerie of lights and exploded. The crater where the drawing used to be showed no evidence that it had ever existed in the first place.

Index breathed a sigh of relief, wiping sweat off her forehead. "That was kind of hard…" The girl murmured, feeling like she could use a large meal and a nap.

After escaping Academy City with Stiyl and Kaori, they had been giving her help (albeit not much, considering the stupendous amount of magical knowledge that she boasted) in manipulating her mana and using it for spells. At the moment, Index was still having trouble with how draining magic was and tried to keep herself as full of energy as possible.

The girl felt like ice was being directly implanted into her spine and turned around to see the source of the fearful premonition. To her horror, there was a group of _things_ that could only be called demonic standing there.

Each member of the group held a human-like shape, but their bodies were rotting in several places. All of them had bared teeth, sharpened to an edge much like a shark's. The eyes held black sclera and no pupils to indicate that they had the capacity of vision.

Their mouths opened, making several inhuman clicking and a jumble of letters from the human alphabet. Evidently, Index could only deduce that they were communicating with each other, the subject of their conversation possibly being her as she had destroyed their magic circle.

The one who stood before all of the others lifted an arm that was too skinny to be called human-like and pointed a disfigured talon at the silver-haired girl. It opened its mouth and spoke in the demonic language,

"**fdwijjcndskjcndscksncksckncdskDISSIDENTsncdskjdnsl cnsdcklkrnjvdf.**" The rest of the demons screeched in bloodthirsty tones, moving forward to with their claws flashing.

"Oh Lord Almighty residing in Heaven, please cast your holy light over this Sister to protect her from the Fallen and Damned." Index prayed without faltering, clasping her hands together. The spell being invoked was a holy defense that would guarantee protection up to a certain point, but the backing from the Walking Church was amplifying the power of the holy spell.

A soft-gold light blazed to life from Index's body, expanding into a perfect dome to shield the nun. The demons seemed to be lacking in intelligence, as the one who was closest to the silver-haired girl struck the barrier and screeched in pain. As that was going on, Index had started reciting a chant in Hebrew to take advantage of the distraction

"**vfrnlcswcjnrecmdsvknskdsjnsklnHEAVENLYlfwnsckreljn csdkvrnvnlfsdvfrenc.**" The demon wailed, making the others back off.

The demon in contact with the holy barrier soon combusted with a final ringing screech. The troupe of unholy aberrations moved slowly and surrounded the barrier, attempting to formulate a plan to destroy the nuisance and slaughter the girl.

Index's eyes blazed with blood-red magic circles, but unlike last time, she was in complete control. Invoking the Power of the World to load her spell, she finished the chant.

"Burn in the Fires of Sinai!" Index commanded heatedly in Hebrew. Beams of pure heat blasted out of the magic circles in her eyes, striking the demons.

The effects of the holy spell were destructive, to say the least. As soon as the beams struck, they expanded into a wild conflagration of red flames and engulfed the demons. They did not even have enough time to screech in pain, the holy fire quickly disintegrating them beyond even ashes. Finally, the flames disappeared without leaving a scorch mark, having only targeted the unholy abominations.

The silver-haired girl collapsed onto her knees, panting hard. Even if she had tapped into ley-lines beneath the earth to fuel the holy spell, it had been exhausting manipulating the mana and shaping it into the fire. She tried to ignore the exhaustion as best as she could, getting up shakily and beginning to make her way back to the inn.

Index frowned and had a quick thought involving the magic circle she had destroyed. She moved back to the crater and got down on one knee to trace a design of her own in the dirt, seeking a certain objective.

The ritual in question was for tracking magical residue, even after the magic itself had long disappeared. It was based off the tracking techniques of civilizations long gone, working much like a blood hound that was catching a scent. Using it, Index would be able to see if there were any other circles on the island and report back to the others on their locations.

Index quickly went through another chant, making the magic circle thrum with gathered mana from the air. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, concentrating to perceive the tracking spell. In her head, a spiritual radar appeared and began to send out waves to find anymore unholy residue.

Finally, a ping came up on the radar. Then it became larger. And larger. And _larger_.

To Index's mounting horror, the ping was rapidly expanding until it eventually covered the expanse of the _entire island_.

There was a magic circle over the whole island.

"What is this…" The silver-haired girl breathed in fear, shuddering and wrapping her arms around herself to stave off the freezing sensation that the information that she just got had caused in her. She wondered why the one she had destroyed hadn't somehow disrupted the larger design.

'_It was just a decoy!_' The silver-haired girl realized.

Index suddenly brought her hands up and smacked herself on both sides of her face. "No time to be scared, Index." She told herself, using the pain to shake off her fear.

The green-eyed girl quickly made her way back to the inn, intent on sharing the important, yet horrifying news to the others.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou's head shifted upward to look at the sky, getting a disturbing premonition.

'_Why do I feel like things just got more difficult in some way?_' Touma thought worriedly.

The circumstances were already bad enough as they were in his eyes, considering the threat of a Demon Lord on the same island as him and the others. And even more so when they apparently now had a bone to pick with his family. Kamijou didn't like his parents becoming depressed over how their son always got into chaotic situations where he could get hurt.

"Why did this have to happen _now_?" The spiky-haired boy grimaced as he jumped from tree-top to tree-top, his feet barely making contact with the leaves when he landed. Touma had no luck yet in finding the magic circles that he was supposed to dispel and he had a funny feeling that everything wasn't as straightforward as he thought it was.

He stopped and ruffled up his hair in frustration. "Ahh, what the hell is with this!? Why is it becoming so hard to find some freaking dirt patterns!?"

"Nyahh, is Kami-yan having a little trouble in paradise~?" An irritatingly familiar voice teased from below him.

Touma was startled out of his thoughts and lost his concentration for the tree-jumping, causing him to slip up and fall. As he descended, Kamijou clumsily hit several branches on the way down, occasionally catching onto his shirt and tearing it. After smashing through the last branch, the spiky-haired boy quickly maneuvered himself and touched down on one knee. In doing so, the ground under his feet had a slight web of thin cracks in it from the impact.

"Bravo, Kami-yan." Motoharu applauded jokingly, clapping at the acrobatic action that his fellow Delta Trio member had performed. "But it needed a bit of work, so I can only give you a seven for that, nya."

"You are the last person who should be judging gymnastics, Tsuchimikado." Touma grumbled as he stood up and dusted himself off, no bruises or scratches visible on him. "If anything, I think the only competition that you're qualified to judge is the 'Most Adorable Little Sister' contest."

"G-Gah! That hurts, Kami-yan, really, it does." The blonde boy said as he put his hand over his heart in a mock hurt gesture. Then Motoharu ruined the illusion that he was injured by pasting a smirk on his face and his next words. "But oh so true, nyahh. And the winner would obviously be my dear Maika-chan!"

"Yeah yeah yeah, you freakin' Siscon Sergeant." Touma sighed, before becoming serious.

"So, any luck yet? I haven't found anything on my end…" The spiky-haired boy admitted reluctantly with a grimace. Motoharu's smirk became darker, his sunglasses shining ominously.

'_I wonder how he does that…_' Touma thought idly, referring to the way that his blonde friend could easily have light reflect off of the tinted spectacles and make himself look even more mysterious. '_Then again, maybe it's a spy thing._'

"I've already found two, but they were both decoys." Motoharu informed, holding up two fingers to emphasize his point.

"Isn't that a bad thing?" Kamijou frowned thoughtfully, making the esper-magician hybrid smirk even wider.

"Nyahh, it kind of does…" Motoharu said. "…But it just means we're narrowing it down until we've finally found the real deal." At that, his smirk was downright predatory.

"And besides, it's not every-day that you get to hunt demons and slay them. That kind of stuff would earn you brownie points with the higher-ups in the Church and Christian magical organizations." The spy pointed out to Touma.

"You're still talking about me getting involved in the Magic Side? Feh, like that'll happen." Kamijou scoffed, continuing in a low voice. "If the Church knew about me and my power, I'd be labeled a heretical existence that needed to be 'purged'. And I don't even want to begin with the magicians…."

"That may be so, but what they never know won't hurt them." Tsuchimikado said with a lopsided grin. "And people on both the Science and Magic Side are a lot more tolerant to weird stuff, Kami-yan. You're beating up some powerful people and making friends with other high-end members, nya. So, don't be surprised if…

"There might soon be a Kamijou Faction springing up that can contend with both sides." Motoharu finished seriously, voicing a piece of his speculation.

Something in the back of the spiky-haired boy's head snapped at those words.

"….You're serious, aren't you?" Kamijou murmured after a long pause to process Tsuchimikado's words.

"As a heart attack, Kami-yan." The blonde teenager answered, staring at the spiky-haired boy like he was measuring him up.

"Such misfortune… heh, actually…" Touma's eyes gained an ambitious glint. "…The Kamijou Faction, eh?... That kind of has a good ring to it. I like it. Okay, why not?"

"Now, Kami-yan, I know that you don… wait, what did you say?" Tsuchimikado continued to speak, cutting himself off and staring at Touma in incredulity.

"I'm saying- why the hell not!?" Kamijou said with a crooked smile on his face. "I already have the power to be a faction leader. And maybe…

"I can finally finish my homework in peace!" Touma bellowed shamelessly, making Tsuchimikado stumble in place and his sunglasses slide down to the tip of his nose as he stared.

"If I have subordinates, they can take care of those annoying Science and Magic Side affairs and I won't have to be attacked by something like a stray laser or giant stone pillars!" Kamijou yelled with a crazed expression on his face, gesturing with his hands wildly. "Farewell, supplementary classes! No more having to take the bus home at around six or seven in the evening! No more distractioooonnnnnnnnsssssssss!"

Motoharu could only listen to the rants that Touma was roaring through and began to back up slowly, trying not to garner his attention.

"Time to find more magic circles. Hell, maybe a few demons to keep me busy." Tsuhimikado muttered as he turned and ran in the opposite direction to 'find more magic circles'. It certainly wasn't because he'd finally made Kamijou insane and he didn't want to be near him.

'_No, that's not it at all…_' Motoharu thought in complete denial.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Just how many of them are there…" Kanzaki muttered as she looked over the sliced-up remains of the demons she had just killed. Quite a few of them had ambushed her in packs as she swiftly moved throughout the island. Kaori could only give a quick and brutal Nanasen in response to each and every distraction.

"And now to deal with this…" The eighteen-year-old girl said, moving her gaze over to the magic circle. Due to her nature as a Saint, she was able to sense auras that were either blessed or unholy and had used that talent to track down the patterns of malevolence drawn into the ground.

Her blood froze as something entered the clearing. Kanzaki didn't know what it was, but she could tell that it was at least a cut above the rest of the abominations that she had been killing.

The bushes to her left rustled, revealing a middle-aged man dressed in formal attire and having slicked back platinum-blonde hair. He gave a small smile and spoke in a silky voice,

"Good afternoon, miss. I seem to have lost my way and I'd like to know if this was the right way to a nearby settlement." The unknown man requested.

Kaori's eyes narrowed, her instincts telling her that the man was just _wrong_. On a deep and fundamental level inside of her, there was simply something _wrong_ with the man in front of her.

"Yes, there's an inn nearby." The Saint said, answering the man's question. However, she was still on guard with her hands occasionally gripping the sheath of her sword. "Might I ask what your name is?"

The man merely tilted his head to the side and his smile widened for a second. "Ah, yes, of course. You could say my name is Louis Cyphre."

The man quickly vanished just before the place he used to stand with viciously sliced to shreds by Kanzaki's steel wires. He reappeared standing under a branch, his back completely straight and form unruffled by the spontaneous attack. Cyphre once again teleported as the tree he had been in contact with was shredded to dust by several dozens of the steel wires.

The blonde man reappeared standing in the air, despite having no foothold. Louis looked down at the Saint with a raised eyebrow. "Any particular reason why I have such cold reception?"

"Oh, you mean, other than the fact that you're the _First Fallen?_" Kanzaki hissed venomously, her hands frozen in place as they would not heed her command to destroy the Demon Lord in front of her. As soon as he'd spoke his name, the girl had attacked as per her Saintly nature. The virtuous part of her was commanding her to _destroy_ him.

The now-identified Lucifer continued to smile, clapping lightly. "Good for you to find out my identity. Although, I suppose I _should_ have chosen a more conspicuous alias to disguise myself."

"I don't care about that!" Kaori yelled, her usually calm attitude dissipated from facing the first and greatest of the Demon Lords. Lucifer's presence was several times thicker than Baal's, considering that he was the most powerful demon in existence. "Just call off that abomination of yours before he completes the Devil Rise!"

Lucifer frowned, his gaze growing stern. "Do take caution in your tone. I might actually become incensed. As for the matter of the Lord of Destruction, did you ever entertain the possibility that he had concocted this plot without my consent?" He spoke, the pressure in the air suddenly growing dense.

"W-What do you mean?" Kaori gritted out, still attempting to pull her sword out.

'_Why are my arms not moving!?_' The Saint thought, her superhuman strength failing to aid in the unsheathing of Shichiten Schichitou.

"Baal had committed this entire scheme behind my back." The Fallen Morning Star admitted bluntly, causing Kanzaki to become bewildered.

"…" The girl was quiet, processing what he had told her.

"It seems like you're finally ready to listen. But I'll still have your hands keeping the blade sheathed. Even if I've lived for millennia, I can still feel pain. Also, I don't particularly _like_ getting stabbed." Lucifer elaborated, bringing up his left hand and tilting it from side to side with a lopsided frown on his face.

"Are… are you _letting_ him go through with this?" Kaori questioned.

"Well, of course. There aren't many opportunities when a demon could escape Hell." Lucifer shrugged. "And I could win either way. If Baal's plot fails and he's thrown back into Hell, I will be able to _discipline_ him on why my orders are to be followed. And if he succeeds, then I could take advantage of the confusion and conquer humanity."

The Saint's eyes widened, horror settling into her at the demon's reasoning. "But why? You must know that the Lord will send down angels to smite you."

Lucifer grimaced at the mention of his creator. "Do not remind me. I might still get to enjoy myself here for a little while before that Michael strikes me down again. If anything, better that it be him than…" He trailed off, gulping as a bead of nervous sweat running down his temple.

"Better to be Michael than whom?" Kanzaki repeated with a frown, trying to figure who, besides the Almighty and His Archangels, could strike such fear into the Fallen Morning Star.

"…No. I can't say anything further." Lucifer said, becoming nervous for some reason that the Saint couldn't comprehend. "If my presence is allowed to be here any longer, then _he_ will find me. Know this, Kanzaki Kaori. Baal has brought his Legion with him. You only have a scant amount of time before the ritual begins. I advise that you make haste."

"Wait! Who is this _he_ that makes you so scared?" Kanzaki inquired hastily, wanting to catch the answer before the First Fallen disappeared.

"…You're treading into matters beyond mere mortal ken, blessed one." Lucifer spoke, his infernal gaze bearing down onto the Saint. At that point, his eyes had begun to glow red as more of his demonic nature revealed itself. "_He_ is someone who has divine power. _He_ is far above the Saints, Archangels, and even that 'Magic God' that you followers of the arcane arts seem to covet. He _is_ human, I can assure you that, but his power… It lies in the realm of the illogical.

"Now, I shall be off then." Lucifer nodded to the girl, vanishing into mid-air.

Kanzaki gasped, not even knowing that she'd been holding her breath when the Fallen Morning Star had been speaking. Her thoughts were focused on who could make even an entity that once stood equal to God nervous.

The earth under Kanzaki's feet rumbled ominously, the sky impossibly turning from calm blue to an insidious red. Her head snapped up, feeling the large source of coalescing mana on the island.

"It's begun!" Kaori said quietly. She turned to the direction of the inn and made her way there at speeds that destroyed the sound barrier.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"How is she sleeping through all this?" Kumokawa questioned seriously, looking at the still sleeping Tatsugami Otohime. The small girl was still tucked into her futon, her eyes closed as she slumbered.

"Otohime-chan's always been a deep sleeper." Touya responded with a chuckle, scratching the back of his head. Inwardly, he was berating himself for not finding any of the magic circles that Index had been talking about.

At that moment, a small quake started up underneath their feet and startled Otohime into wakefulness. She blinked slowly, giving a big yawn. "Mmmm, five more minutes…" The gray-haired girl pouted sleepily in an adorable way.

'_So cute!_' Seria thought, resisting the urge to pick up the girl and hug her tightly. However, the situation was diverting her attention to the impending crisis.

"We should probably get going now." Touya muttered, easily picking up his niece while ignoring her surprised 'Eep!'. "C'mon. I don't think my son would be happy if his senpai suddenly got attacked by something unpleasant."

"Got it, Kamijou-san." Kumokawa nodded, doing her best to keep up with the older man's pace. "So, where are we headed anyway?"

"The beach." The father answered.

"…Eh?" Kumokawa blinked, but not stumbling.

"It's a nice open space and we might be able to get safety over there until this thing dies down." Touya scowled, angry that he couldn't help in any way.

"I guess that works." Seria conceded skeptically.

They exited the inn and found the sky a completely different color than what it had been before the earth had started to rumble.

"That's not something you see every day…" Kumokawa murmured, off-put by the illogical defiance of physics she was seeing. She was having trouble with the revelation of magic actually existing and the fact that it could pull something like dying the sky red.

"No time for distraction." Touya said, gesturing for his son's senpai to come along.

"…I hope everybody's alright." Seria said seriously, a worried frown on her face.

"Me, too." The older man responded. "But we just need to have faith that my son and his friends can fix this."

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"What the hell is going on…" Stiyl whispered with a shuddering breath, staring with horror at the waters of the beach.

There were shadows moving under the water, writhing ominously. Occasionally, sludgy bubbling would occur with dark whispers being emitted from the unknown creatures.

The red-headed boy looked back and saw that Kumokawa, Touya, who was carrying a trembling Otohime in his arms, moving down the nearby stone stairs that led into the sands of the beach. A howling sound echoed out in the distance, Kanzaki flying out of the thick foresting and landing next to Stiyl, carrying something vaguely white over her right shoulder.

"Can you let me go now?" Index asked meekly, recovering from the high speeds that Kaori had gone at. The Saint let her down gently, fussing over her like an older sister.

"Did I go too fast?" Kanzaki questioned with worry. Her question remained unanswered as the girl picked up on an inhuman language being uttered.

"**kbsdacdsklbvlcndsacjdskbcaFREEDOModcbsjachfbskckdn isclbkndks.**" A demon voice echoed, surfacing from the water. The six people on the beach began to feel sickened by the disgusting appearance of the abomination that just emerged from the water.

It held the appearance of a man who had died and was rotting in various parts of his body. He was wearing clawed-up Roman Legionnaire armor, still bleeding copiously and leaking the red liquid off onto the water.

"**lncdalkcdsjarbusldlsbjcjsnRECKONINGdlsnakcldandalb canlcna**." The demon continued, chattering in its unholy dialect.

Kanzaki suddenly remembered the words that she had heard from Lucifer earlier. Her eyes snapped open in alarm, hands settling onto her sword.

Stiyl and Index both readied their magic, wanting to get a head-start or else they might be overwhelmed.

The corpse-like demon gazed at them, shaking its head slowly. "**njlcsaclushncbdskflbasxacdsqixjwFUTILElebabculscds lhbvlbscckkbwe.**

"**lcabclubdgscavulkacksdabcalcalcalcWEjlbacbdejlacdk blcdshbcdskbcsdcbdkARElebjascbalabcdacballablsclbl aMANYjbcvblrelvbjlnbbjvcnsmpwov.**" It said, its numbers increasing as more human corpses rose out of the water slowly. All of them were wearing the garbs of warriors from ages past, their weapons materializing in their hands.

"**vljdsvbreuvdsklnvbslajldsjkacblsjavbsWEvbkdlsabcdw acdlsbcdbclcadsnowbnci.**

"**kjlbaskvbdkvljvemcanbivrbcsckbhrsncARElssfhvwklbac ndslsdjbsjdsavlbskacbdb.**

"**fkbwlvcnrsklbavsavkjfsalvbvfdjlvfdbLEGIONbksabvwla ckdsbklcdskbdsakbcldsc.**"

The demon finished, the assembled army of soldiers counting in at six hundred and sixty-six.

The earth quaked again and everybody could see a giant dark-purple box of energy materialized in the distance, looming menacingly over the forest. They could only wonder what had been the cause of it.

"Guys, I have an idea." Index spoke, gulping as she went over her plan and ironing out any flaws. If she had the proper preparation, the spell would go flawlessly and the demons would be destroyed.

But the girl didn't have the time and just decided to rely on faith and a metric ton of mana. Crude, yes, but it would get the job done.

"… What do we have to lose at this point? I'm in." Stiyl conceded, sighing in defeat while giving the silver-haired girl his attention.

"Agreed." Kanzaki said, lending her ear.

"Alright, this spell is going to take all three of us holding hands for this. Just push as much magical power into my body that you can and I'll take care of the rest." Index explained, reaching out her hands. The two looked at each other and linked their hands with each other and the silver-haired girl.

"I hope this works…" Index said under her breath before beginning the chant.

The spell was based off the concept of Trinity and relying upon three people to fill in the roles of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It would be even more effective, considering Kanzaki Kaori's nature as a Saint and having a body similar to the Son of God. Invoking the Holy Trinity would assure the obliteration of any unholiness.

"Divine Retribution." The silver-haired girl exhaled quietly, holding firm as white light engulfed the trio. The demons flinched backwards, blinded by the light and having their natures spurned by the holy aura.

The light coalesced into a single ball inside the circle that the trio of magicians had cast, floating silently. It shot up, shifting the color of the sky from red to blue near it. A high-pitched whistling sound began, slowly building up into a symphony of angelic choruses.

The ball expanded immensely, blotting out the sun from everybody's view and becoming even brighter in the process. It exploded with a mighty roar, splitting up into thousands of white beams that were aimed at the demons.

The beams of light struck down with great force, disintegrating up the demons and causing discourse among the ranks. There was nowhere to run for the unholy abominations as for each demon, there seemed to be five of the holy energy bullets. Eventually, the chorus of tortured screeches and explosions, along with the bright flashes, finally stopped as the spell slowly died down. The demons' bodies had been completely destroyed by the holy power of the spell, sent back to the depths of Hell.

The beach was damaged immensely by the spell, scorching some parts of the sand into rough glass and leaving other parts still glowing and radiating intense heat. Whoever saw the mess would wonder if somebody had brought down a concentrated nuclear explosion on the sands of the beach.

Index collapsed to her knees, her green eyes dim with fatigue. Stiyl and Kanzaki came to her sides and supported the exhausted girl. They knew that the girl would be a powerful magician with the right amount of practice, but they hadn't expected something like _that_ after only a few weeks.

"Hey…" The silver-haired girl slurred, gaining their attention. She was breathing heavily, her mind on the edge of shutting down from exhaustion. "Did I do well?"

"You did great, Index. Now get some rest." Kanzaki smiled softly at the younger girl as she fell unconscious in her and Stiyl's arms. The two hugged Index close, feeling pride in her achievements.

"…Can I be a magician?" Otohime asked quietly, looking up at her uncle as he was still carrying her. She'd seen the spell in action and had discarded all pretenses of wanting to live in Academy City where her 'Onii-chan' was and becoming an esper. While being an esper would mean that she got powers, magic seemed more versatile in the gray-haired girl's opinion.

Touya and Kumokawa were staring at the destruction that was wrought by the silver-haired girl's spell and could only marvel at it, completely ignoring the girl's question.

Tsuchimikado burst through the foliage and jumped down onto the sand, breathing hard from how long he had run. "Is everybody alright!?" The blonde boy asked briskly, looking the residents of the beach over with obvious concern. He'd been held up with destroying several other demons on his way to the beach. Luckily, it seemed like demons were very vulnerable to brutal martial arts.

Motoharu's question was never answered as everybody felt the pressure in the air increase tenfold and looked at the purple box in the distance, seeing it shift into onyx black and the space around it distorting. All of their thoughts were along the same wavelength, involving the enigmatic monument that had appeared.

'_What is that thing?_'

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou steadily sprinted closer and closer to the center of the large energy source that he was sensing, desperately praying that he wouldn't be too late. After the sky had turned red and the earth had given its first quake, Touma had felt the familiar presence of that Lord of Destruction and went to have what could only be their final confrontation.

He pushed through one last thicket and found himself in a large clearing with an immense magic circle and at the center of it was a certain demonic entity standing near a glowing book. It sneered at him, despite its face being completely smooth and having no features. There was no doubt in Kamijou Touma's mind that he was witnessing what might be the true form of Baal.

Baal's smooth face writhed in sickening ways, an opening slowly stretching out and forming into a wide mouth that took up half of the demon's head. It shifted into a nightmarish grin, the teeth too round to be human. Baal opened his mouth and finally spoke, "**Ahh, just in time, you little mangy beast. The Devil Rise is about to commence and I would prefer a witness for this glorious occasion, even if it's only a disgusting little **_**human**_**.**"

"Do you really think I'm going to let you go through with this?" Touma growled, slowly stalking towards the center of the arcane formation. His Imagine Breaker was ineffective in the matter of destroying the magic circle because it seemed to draw off the ley-lines and it was streaming faster than he could nullify it.

"**Oh, I do believe so.**" Baal smirked greasily, raising his right hand and clicking his fingers. The edges of the magic circle blazed to life, spreading out into a square of dark-purple light. The light rose up, engulfing the two and the giant formation in a large box of energy. It also affected the sunlight, causing the barrier to tint the light purple.

"**Now then, I believe that no distractions will occur.**" He finished, slowly flexing his fingers and having energy occasionally crackle between his knuckles. "**While I'm well-versed in destruction, it doesn't mean that I am incapable of conjuring a barrier.**"

"Cut the crap." Touma said bluntly, glaring at the demon. He'd stopped his march when the barrier was being conjured, but decided to still focus the Imagine Breaker on attempting to disrupt the magic circle. "You're just stalling for time, aren't you? Tsuchimikado told me about those time-delay spells that need to gather energy before they can work."

"**I do not need to answer to a beast's petty growling.**" Baal insulted the spiky-haired boy, tilting his head with a grin that was stretching the proportions of his face.

"That's it." Kamijou sighed, grimacing as he once again began his trek. "I really didn't want to have to use this…"

"**Use what? Could it perhaps be that mysterious energy that I could feel from you?**" Baal grinned, knowing that he'd struck the bulls-eye as the boy had stopped mid-step. "**Do not fool yourself into thinking that your power could exceed a Demon Lord. But I have to wonder…**

"**Is the power too much?**" The Lord of Destruction asked simply, drawing upon the manipulative qualities that every demon possessed. "**Have you not ever felt that you could not relate to those other beasts because you are too different? It is impossible. You **_**cannot**_** be known as a human with your power, no?**"

Kamijou's eyes widened with each word out of the demon's mouth. And every word, he had to reluctantly admit, was true.

When Touma had first awakened his power, he'd been overcome with fear of hurting his loved ones. Every single day of his life, he had to constantly worry about whether or not he was holding back enough strength to make sure he didn't level a mountain with a flick of his finger or rearrange the tectonic plates of Earth in a single step.

But Kamijou knew nobody that could relate to his dilemma. His existence was so far beyond humanity that he sometimes felt like he was only human in a deluded fantasy of his own creation. To put it bluntly-

There were times when Kamijou Touma would feel like he was a monster.

Baal grinned in satisfaction at seeing the mental turmoil that he had caused in the spiky-haired boy. He slowly brought up an arm, building up energy in it. Kamijou was too distracted in his mind from Baal's words to see the crackling purple energy that steadily collecting in front of him.

The Lord of Destruction fired the energy, making it latch onto the boy's right arm. It wrapped around the Imagine Breaker, too dense to be dispelled. Kamijou snapped out of his tortured thoughts and looked down at the arm.

"No-" Touma was cut off as his right arm was blown up in a concentrated inferno, splattering blood onto him and his surroundings. He stood stock still, his eyes wide with shock as he stared as the charred and bleeding stump where his right arm used to be.

"**Heh…hehehe…HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.**" Baal laughed loudly, reveling in the destruction of the nullifying nuisance. The last thing he had needed to do before executing the Devil Rise was eliminate the right arm of that mangy beast to make sure it wouldn't even disrupt the ritual. But Baal knew that it would not be a simple task and had taken ruthless advantage of every angle he could gain to one-up the spiky-haired boy.

The pressure in the air suddenly intensified, becoming several times thicker as even Baal had to make a conscious effort to breathe after his bout of laughter was interrupted. He moved his gaze over the bloodied boy, whose spiky mess of hair was covering the upper part of his face. Touma's form was quivering with a quiet bout of breathing, steadily building in strength and volume until he was laughing dementedly in such a way that even the Demon Lord was disturbed.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA! Hey, Baal!" Kamijou called out towards the disturbed Demon Lord, his face splitting into an insane grin that bore his unusually sharp canines. His eyes began to shine through all the shades of the color spectrum.

"**Did you really think that blowing up my right arm would actually solve anything!?**" Touma uncharacteristically jeered, his voice echoing deeply. "**If anything, the Imagine Breaker was only holding back something that's a hell of a lot scarier than you are!**"

"**What are you talking about, you mangy little beast?**" Baal hissed indignantly, gathering up more energy for his next assault. He was interrupted by the air growing even thicker than it already had.

Something was there. Some type of invisible monster was occupying the space behind Kamijou, looming threateningly over the pair inside the pair. The _thing_ in the air far surpassed Baal in raw power and just made him feel oh so very _small_. The last time he had felt like that was when the Fallen Morning Star was genuinely enraged. No…

The Invisible Thing was easily a thousand times more imposing than Lucifer could ever be.

"**It's heeeerrrreeeee.**" Touma sing-songed mockingly, dismissive of his missing limb. He had a falsely contemplative expression on his face. "**Hmmm…. Purple's kind of unfitting for light with this atmosphere. Oi, you**-

"**Eat the light.**" Kamijou commanded, the Invisible Thing complying and beginning to perform an illogical action. Light was not supposed to be allowed to be eaten.

But it happened.

The Invisible Thing was beyond such concepts like 'logic' and 'physics'. It could do as It pleased with the realm of the substance beings, holding enough power to destroy any and _all_ limitations that would hinder Its actions. And so-

The Invisible Thing devoured light.

The space near the stump of Kamijou's arm distorted and inverted on itself, a black void materializing and quickly sucking in every color in the barrier. Reality screeched in protest to the travesty of nature that the Invisible Thing was committing. As the light was being sucked in, Baal lost the capability of sight. While he was still occupying a vessel made from human flesh, his capabilities were dampened and he couldn't adapt to nocturnal vision.

Everything was black.

There was no light that Baal could see. There was no sound that Baal could hear except for his own breathing. Worst of all-

The Lord of Destruction could not feel Kamijou Touma's presence.

"**How does it feel, Baal?**" Kamijou's voice echoed in the darkness, causing chills to go down Baal's spine. "**How does it feel to be truly helpless in the dark? Does it feel good being on the other end of fear, you little devil?**

"**You. Are. Nothing.**" Touma stated bluntly, insulting the Demon Lord's existence. His color-shifting eyes suddenly lit up in the darkness, the space under his eyes lighting up with the blindingly white, wide grin of Kamijou.

"**I will not**_** be toyed with!**_" Baal roared as he blasted a demonic explosion in the direction where Touma's voice came from. The purple flare was quickly snuffed out, but briefly showing Kamijou's insane features before everything went back in a black void.

"**Reveal yourself!**" The Demon Lord demanded angrily, trying to cover up the slight trickle of fear that constantly rising up in him. He was constantly stepping back, attempting to find the wall of the barrier. "**You are only delaying the inevitable, you little bea-**"

A loud crunch interrupted the demon's tirade while startling him. Baal fell on his back, leaving him wondering why his legs had failed him. He reached down and felt wet stumps, realizing what had happened.

The Lord of Destruction's legs had been bitten right off of him.

Baal could faintly hear crunching and squelching sounds in the darkness, dreading the imagery that his legs were being chewed to mush. His fear finally broke through his anger and the Demon Lord screamed in both pain and terror, rapidly crawling back with his arms.

"**St-Stay back! Please, I'll stop the ritual, just please bring back the light!**" Baal begged in desperation, his words holding a copious amount of irony behind them. He didn't care if he was being a hypocrite, he just wanted to _live_. Baal wanted to do _anything_ to get away from that huma…

No.

That boy was an incomprehensible monster wearing the guise of a human. That was the only conclusion that Baal could come to. He absolutely _refused_ to believe that Kamijou Touma was a human.

"**Ho?**" Kamijou's voice echoed in the darkness. "**Is that all? Heh, of course. Only a **_**demon**_** would be pathetic enough to beg for its life after showing such bravado. You flaunt your power and expect everybody under you to obey, but the moment something greater comes along… you are just fodder at their feet, waiting to be **_**squashed**__**like a bug**_**.**"

Slow steps echoed out, moving closer.

And closer.

And _closer_.

As the footsteps grew near, Baal had finally given up on crawling and was merely cowering in the dirt. The great Lord of Destruction was reduced to a fearful and quivering mess by a single, sixteen-year-old boy.

But the boy had never been normal.

Baal saw a faint, blood-red glow in the distance, slowly forming into the shape of a human body with spiky hair. The familiar color-shifting eyes and white grin appeared after it was shown that the walking figure had no right arm. Finally, the blood-splattered and possibly-gone-insane Kamijou Touma was in plain view of the Demon Lord, his bleeding stump cloaked by darkness.

Kamijou looked down at Baal, denigrating the demon's existence with a mere gaze. He shook his head from side to side, chuckling with amusement. "**So **_**this**_** is what the great Baal is reduced to. It's rather fitting if you ask me. But now…**

"**It's game over, bitch. You lose.**" Touma said simply, bringing up his left arm and giving a thumbs-down. "**You know…**

"**You called us beasts instead of humans.**" The spiky-haired boy continued quietly, the Demon Lord too terrified to speak. "**So, if I'm a beast…**

"**Then you're my PREY!**" Touma bellowed, bringing up his right arm.

Except it was not a right arm.

It was the Head of a Dragon.

The Invisible Thing had taken on the shape of a dark-gray Dragon's Head at Kamijou's unspoken behest, obeying with what might be called excitement.

The Dragon's Head roared loudly before descending upon the screaming Baal. Its teeth sunk into the demon, beginning the brutal mauling. It tore a large chunk of the Demon Lord's body out, reducing the flesh to goop with Its horrifyingly sharp fangs.

Black blood was spraying everywhere as the Other Being continued to bite into the body of the dying Demon Lord. Touma was laughing dementedly through the entire spectacle, completely ignoring the gore that was occasionally splattered onto him.

Baal had perished in darkness, devoured by a Superior Being.

"Pathetic." Kamijou commented , his quiet and tame tone completely contradicting his boisterous and insane behavior from before. His face held a bored expression as he gazed around the black void that the Invisible Thing had created.

"Time to stop the Devil Rise." Touma muttered, his eyes showing an icy intensity as he raised the Dragon's Head skyward. He silently commanded It for what he hoped was the last time that day.

The Invisible Thing _Roared_.

The sound-wave was tightly condensed as it flowed out of the Dragon's Head. As it rose higher and higher, it gradually grew in volume, intensity, and power. There were visible shockwaves that were beheld in the Roar.

The black box that Baal had conjured before he died was completely obliterated in the wake of the Roar. Light once again returned to Kamijou's sight as he could see the remains of Baal slowly dissipating. However, the gore on his body remained because of the spiritually-distorting fangs of the Invisible Thing.

The Roar traveled sky-high, making every cloud around the island disappear from its power. It rose higher and higher with such speed that the supernatural sound-waves finally struck the o-zone layer of Earth, conflicting briefly with it before being deflected back into all directions. The kinetic force of the Roar spanned out all over the planet and did not miss a single corner, causing vibrations in both the sky and under the earth.

The entire planet Earth shook under the mighty Roar of the Invisible Thing, alarming every single person of both mundane and extraordinary circumstances of its occurrence as they heard and felt the beastly sound. The normal people that lived out their lives with little to no care passed it off as an earthquake, whereas the extraordinary _knew_ that some manner of godlike being had made its presence known to the world.

Back on the island, the power of the Roar had seeped under the earth and fragmented the magical formation that was embedded deep in the bedrock. After what seemed like an eternity, the sound-wave finally subsided and all was quiet.

Kamijou sighed irritably at the drastic measures he had taken to stop the magic circle. He would've preferred to use a method that was more subtle, but the Invisible Thing would suffice. Touma glanced at the Dragon's Head, mentally willing his healing to take effect.

The Imagine Breaker soon reappeared and took precedence over the satisfied Invisible Thing, reforming Kamijou's right arm in the process. The Dragon's Head crystallized and shattered into numerous pieces, revealing an unscathed (albeit sore) right arm that looked like it had never been blasted off.

Kamijou moved his newly-regenerated right arm, testing to see that it had reformed properly. Even if he knew that the regeneration's work was flawless, Touma was too paranoid to instantly chalk it up as a complete recovery. He looked around at the torn-up space around him, grimacing at the uprooted forest that the Roar of the Invisible Thing had caused.

"Well, shit." Touma summed up his thoughts out loud with a tired look on his face.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"I suppose we couldn't exactly have a relaxing vacation, now, could we?" Kumokawa murmured, sitting down in one of the seats that had been provided in the First Class Cabin in the Supersonic Passenger Plane that was still prepping for flight.

"Please don't remind me…" Touma groaned in lament, cradling his head in his hands as he was seated next to the girl.

"Whatever you did to beat him is probably going to come back and bite you, you know that right?" Seria put forth her speculation, also feeling slightly depressed from the botched vacation.

It had turned out that Baal had been summoned into the world by taking advantage of someone who had been possessed by the grimoire that he was connected to. After using that someone's soul as sustenance, he hid underground while slowly forging the magic circle with his destructive capabilities. It had taken _years_ to create the circle and Kamijou destroyed it in a matter of minutes.

After Touma and Seria made their farewells to the Kamijou family, Academy City had once again been 'kind' enough to send one of its Supersonic Passenger Planes to pick up the student duo. Kamijou had been too mentally exhausted from the trialing experience to complain or be paranoid.

"Good day, we come to you all with some breaking news." The news reporter spoke, garnering the attention of the tired teenagers to the television screens that had been included in the First Class Cabin. Until the man on the screen had spoken up, Kamijou and Kumokawa had been aimlessly flicking through channels to find something interesting. A quick click of the remote showed that the same news broadcast was being shown on every channel.

"There has been a shocking occurrence yesterday evening that has affected the entire world." The man continued stoically, causing chills to run down Touma's spine as he made a deduction as to what the news was.

"Yesterday, an earthquake spanning over the _entire planet_ has occurred, leaving seismologists baffled as to why and _how_ it had happened." The news reporter delivered, confirming Kamijou's suspicions.

"The earthquake has been measured accordingly by the most prominent scientists in Academy City and it has been revealed that it has measured in as a magnitude of three point five on the Richter scale. More news will come in later on today, so please stay tuned on our channel to discover more. For now, we hope you have a pleasant day." The man concluded the news segment. The television screen flicked off as Kumokawa clicked the off button on her remote.

Both teenagers were quiet, Touma holding a careful poker face and Seria's face being blank. The girl was still pointing her remote at the blank screen, her posture completely frozen. Kumokawa's head creaked slowly to Kamijou, who refused to meet her stare as he kept looking at the blank screen monotonously.

"Umm…." Seria stared, not sure what to say as to what the news had just delivered. She had felt the roaring sound on the island and the quake, but she'd never imagined that it would have _that_ wide of an effect. Kumokawa knew that the source was somehow Kamijou, but her intelligent mind had shut down as she failed to process the connection. Oh, she could make it, but the revelation was teetering her suspension of disbelief regarding Touma's claims of being merely 'strong'.

"Not a word." Kamijou said simply, his shoulders sagging forward as he palmed his face slowly.

"…Right…" Seria responded, mentally stashing the entire event away in the same place where she put her speculations about what Touma did to make a Kihara not-evil and sane.

To say the least, the flight had been extremely awkward for both Kamijou Touma and Kumokawa Seria as the plane headed towards Academy City.

**Between The Lines**

The island was empty after the departure of the vacationing tourists, ominously devoid of sound. The area where Kamijou Touma had loosed the Invisible Thing on Baal had been completely ravaged from the Roar.

Suddenly, the air shifted and blurred, revealing the form of a blonde teenage girl wearing an incredibly skimpy black garment and a witch's hat with silver ornaments. She glanced at the destruction with intrigue visible in her usually-bored eyes.

When the Invisible Thing had been unleashed upon the world, Othinus had taken it upon herself to view the results of Its presence. While it was awe-inspiring, the Magic God was more interested in a certain something.

Or rather, a certain someone.

She had always bided her time in attempting to discover the identity of the mysterious person who controlled the Invisible Thing, wondering who (besides herself and a certain man who failed to become a Magic God) could fight, defeat, and even _tame_ It.

Then Othinus finally discovered his identity with the assistance of her abilities as a Magic God. While it was risky to land in the negative fifty percentile, her curiosity outgrew her caution and she'd used her power to find him.

The Magic God never imagined that the identity would be an entity that even she could possibly be defeated by, that is to say-

The One Who Purified God And Exorcised the Devil.

Kamijou Touma.

He intrigued her. Kamijou was quite possibly the only person in the world who could fight her on even ground and maybe even _surpass_ her. Othinus wanted to see with her own eyes what kind of person he was, but it seemed like whenever he got too close, Touma managed to slip away.

"Kamijou Touma…" Othinus breathed with a slight pink tint on her cheeks. She could feel that familiar heat all over her body and barely resisted the urge to leave to her living quarters to 'relieve' the 'stress'.

Othinus loved power. She loved it more than anything in the world. Her constant urge to grow stronger was part of the reason why she'd gained the title of Magic God. Now, she had found that the most powerful being she had ever seen was a boy that was roughly the same age as her and what's more, he was _born_ with his power.

"Kamijou Touma, I will meet you one day. Just wait." Othinus spoke in the silence, giving a mysterious smile as her breathing growing more feverish.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: This has been my longest chapter so far, measuring in at over ten thousand words…

Also, if you're wondering, Touma is _not_ an Eldritch Abomination.

But he is _very_ good at acting like one.

We see some collaboration between him and the Invisible Thing to mind-screw Baal while utterly slaughtering him.

Then there's also that cameo I put of Lucifer. Particularly, the one from Shin Megami Tensei. He's a pleasant dude for being the Ruler of Hell, don't you think?

*scratching back of head sheepishly* I guess I'm a big fan of Shin Megami Tensei, considering that reference last chapter that Touya made and that spell that Index did this chapter. Fires of Sinai is a fire spell that Metatron can do once you get him.

I remember one of you reviewers was disappointed at the exclusion of the Deep Blood Arc because Touma wasn't going to do the whole psycho thing, so are you feeling satisfied at what I did in this chapter?

Was the whole thing with the Invisible Thing Roar causing a 3.5 magnitude global earthquake too much?

Finally, our favorite Magic God, Othinus, (or HOThinus as some of the people on Anime-Suki call her) has made an appearance.

I made her kind of OOC by giving the girl a power fetish along with aging her up to sixteen, the same as age as Touma. :D

I regret nothing!

Anyway, leave a review as usual.

Signing off 'till next time-Loopsey


	13. Eventful Times

Pre-Chapter Notes: I almost thought I couldn't get this out in time…

Also, I have some news that I'd like you guys to know before reading the chapter.

First, my fic actually got put on the Fanfic Recommendation page of the TvTropes article for To Aru Majutsu no Index. I didn't think I would actually get to this goal that fast…

My special heartfelt thanks to the TvTtropes member, hyperlimitsorant, for recommending my fic to TvTropes. It really means a lot. *smiling*

Also, Chapter 12 got the most number of reviews so far in this story. It got 26 reviews, beating out the previous record of 20 reviews for Chapter 8.

Now, on with the next chapter of the story!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"So…" Stiyl Magnus started, watching the spectacle before him with bemusement. After he, Kanzaki, and Index had left the formerly demon-infested island and said their goodbyes to the Kamijou family, they had decided to travel over to another part of Japan and stopped in a restaurant for lunch.

"What is it you might want?" Index Librorum Prohibitorum said with narrowed eyes and folded arms, looking at the man who had been stringed-up by Kanzaki after he'd tried to attack them while they'd been eating.

"I swear things have been getting weirder and weirder ever since Index was cured…" Kanzaki Kaori admitted under her breath, using her steel wires to keep the wind magician tied up.

"…My apologies, but I need the power that your grimoires hold." The unknown stoic magician explained, remaining calm as he was being restrained by the Saint.

"Y'know, most of the people that come after Index always say 'need', but it seems like they only _want_ the books." Stiyl deadpanned from the side, still eating the miraculously-undamaged food on his plate.

"My name is Yamisaka Ouma and I need one of your grimoires to heal someone important to me." The well-dressed man said bluntly, revealing his intentions.

"…You do realize we could have avoided this whole mess if you had just asked, right?" Kaori muttered irritably, her right eye-lid twitching. Her own instincts were telling her that the man was being truthful in his intentions. And if he was lying…

There was always Nanasen, after all.

"Kaori's right. If you only need the spells in my head for only healing, I could just do that for you." The silver-haired girl offered, her anger diminished after hearing the man's explanation.

"…Would you?" Yamisaka blinked, his mind thrown into disarray by the nonchalant behavior of the trio.

"Yes, she/I would." Kanzaki, Stiyl, and Index responded simultaneously.

"Very well, but…" Ouma grunted, attempting to keep his muscles from falling asleep. "Could you let me down first?"

The other three traded skeptical looks between themselves and the wind magician. Kanzaki sighed, reluctantly loosening the strings and letting down Yamisaka.

"Thank you." The man responded without reserve, dusting himself off. He glanced at the damaged crossbow medium on the floor that he'd used for his magic, but decided not to pick it up. Ouma didn't want to aggravate the trio in front of him more than he already had. Besides, he could always make another one.

"Now, if you would follow me." Yamisaka began to walk in the direction of the hospital where the love of his life was situated at, trying to suppress the nervousness and excitement he was feeling.

"Lead the way, Yamisaka-san." Index smiled as she walked a few steps behind the man, Kanzaki and Stiyl quickly following.

"Index looks happy, doesn't she…" Kaori had an almost imperceptible smile on her face, watching the delighted expression that the younger silver-haired girl held from the opportunity to bring help instead of destruction with her magic.

"Yeah, and we've got that nutty Kamijou to thank for it." The younger fire magician chuckled, not holding his reserves on his opinion of the aforementioned spiky-haired boy.

"We have to thank him somehow…" Kanzaki muttered, not feeling that it was right that Touma had managed to help the three of them without any compensation. And he _was_ going to have the favor returned, whether he wanted it or not.

"We can worry about that later." Stiyl waved off, their mini-conversation coming to an end as they went to catch up with Yamisaka and Index.

'_This is nice…_' Kanzaki and Stiyl thought, silently thanking Kamijou Touma for the aid he'd given them.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"So, did anything happen while I was gone?" Kamijou Touma asked, walking through Academy City while carrying his luggage. He'd just gotten off the plane and given his awkward farewells to Kumokawa Seria before making his way back to his dorm.

"There was a bit of a stir up after you beat Accelerator, but that's just about it, Kami-yan." Aogami Pierce said with his ever-present smile and closed eyes. After attempting to once again assault his friend (that time for going on vacation with their beautiful senpai), he'd tagged along with Touma so that they could go to the arcade after he dropped off his luggage.

"What do you mean by 'a bit'?" The spiky-haired boy inquired with a suspicious frown. He didn't question Aogami as to how he knew who beat the Number One, seeing as the blue-haired boy had mysterious ways that Kamijou didn't bother to figure out.

"…Well…" Pierce said awkwardly, his voice failing him as the duo finally arrived at the dorm building where Kamijou Touma resided. When seen clearly, the spiky-haired boy's dorm room was…

There were only charred remains of Touma's room.

"…"

"…"

Kamijou was silent as he just _stared_ at the destroyed dorm where he used to live in. Aogami was backing up slowly, not wanting to be anywhere near his friend if he snapped. He'd seen the damage from the times Touma had seriously fought Sogiita Gunha and _did not_ want to be caught in the blast zone.

Touma's luggage dropped out of his limp arms as the dark-haired boy collapsed onto his knees.

"MY ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"

Kamijou screamed in comical despair, clutching the sides of his head. He'd only been gone a few days and his _room_ got blown up for whatever idiotic reason he couldn't fathom.

'_No, wait. I think I know why…_' Kamijou thought, remembering his victory over Accelerator. It was very likely that a rather bold (or idiotic) Skill-Out would get their hands on a batch of C4 and use it to blow up the Sleeping Dragon's apartment for street credit.

"Ah, Kamijou-chan!" A feminine voice rang out from down the street. Aogami turned his head to the source and brightened as he saw Tsukuyomi Komoe come down the street toward them.

"Hiiii, Komoe-sensei~." Pierce waved as he still kept his distance from Touma, who was beginning to mutter unintelligibly.

"Hello, Aogami-chan." Tsukuyomi greeted before stopping to look at Kamijou's kneeling form. The pink-haired teacher shifted her gaze to her blue-haired student, saying "So, he…"

"Yeah, he knows." Aogami responded with a wince.

"…Oh dear." The short teacher said under her breath. Touma finally got off the ground and noticed that his teacher had arrived.

"Hello, Kamijou-cha-Eep!" Komoe squeaked as she was suddenly picked up by her shoulders and looking directly into Touma's eerily blank eyes.

"Sensei…" Touma began quietly, proverbially making ice form in his teacher and Aogami's stomachs. He released one hand from Komoe's shoulders, holding her up effortlessly. Using that hand, Kamijou pointed sternly at his burned-down room.

"Who did this?" The spiky-haired boy requested, the underlying tone in his voice clearly sending out his intent to _destroy_ whoever the perpetrator was.

"I'm sorry, Kamijou-chan, but I can't tell you that. However, I can tell you that we found the people who did it and they're behind bars. All I know is that some crazed person decided to blow up your apartment for an unknown reason." Tsukuyomi responded calmly, resisting the urge to turn her head away from Touma's smoldering gaze. "…Also, can you put me down now?"

"…Okay." Kamijou sighed tiredly, setting his teacher down gently. His eyes showed the fatigue behind them. "Was anything salvaged from the damage?"

"Only your mementos and school work." Komoe responded reluctantly. She pasted a sheepish smile on her face, trying to cheer up the depressed spiky-haired boy. "Don't worry, though. You got full marks on the homework I passed out before you went on vacation!"

"…Well, there's that, at least." Touma said, running a hand through his hair. He had a sudden thought that popped up in his mind. "Wait, where am I supposed to live now?"

"You're being put in a co-ed dorm in another district, Kami-yan, you lucky bastard." Aogami grumbled with his arms crossed, a jealous frown on his face. While he had a good friendship with Touma, it didn't stop the blue-haired boy from having a healthy amount of envy for him.

"He's right. Let me give you the address so that you can get situated over there until your dorm is fixed. Now, if you put some effort into your schoolwork, I'm sure your grades would go up…" Tsukuyomi pouted, giving a good-natured jab. She reached into her handbag and pulled out some papers with the information denoting Kamijou's new residence, reaching them out to the boy.

"If only I had the time on my hands, then I could do the work you give us. But you'd have to take it up with my luck and circumstances first." Touma jabbed back, taking the papers and glancing through them until he found the address. The spiky-haired boy folded up the papers and pocketed them, going over to his luggage to take them to his new and temporary dorm.

"…You didn't tell him some of the people he was going to be staying with." Aogami pointed out to Komoe, taking caution to make sure that Touma couldn't hear (well, he could, but that didn't mean that the effort wasn't wasted).

"No, I didn't. Have a nice day." Tsukuyomi said while shaking her head, walking away at a brisk pace and not looking back to catch up with Yomikawa for some lunch. Coincidentally, she would also completely miss what Touma was about to do next.

"I'll figure it out when I get there, Aogami." The spiky-haired boy said, making sure that his luggage was safely situated under his grip. Kamijou looked over at the nearby rooftops and nodded distractedly, his mind roughly plotting the fastest course that it could think of to the new address. It wasn't the best route, but it would significantly save his time.

"Alright, see you later." Kamijou called, jumping up onto the nearest rooftop and beginning to hop away. Finally, he disappeared from the blue-haired boy's sight as his roof hopping continued.

"…Show off." Aogami grumbled, walking away to fill his empty stomach with lunch. "I'm in the mood for some nabe…"

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Basically, did you hear? We're getting a new neighbor!" Frenda Seivelun said excitedly with a wide grin, delivering the news to the other members of ITEM in the large apartment that they all shared.

"So what? We super get new neighbors all the time before they get scared off." Kinuhata Saiai responded in boredom, lazing on the couch.

"Maybe this one might stay?" Takitsubo Rikou proposed, raising a hand. She'd been staring out the window and watching the clouds go by until her blonde teammate had spoken.

"We're kind of super crazy around here, y'know?" Kinuhata said, making everybody recall the previous times that their neighbors had transferred to other apartments. It was not because any of the girls were unpleasant, but because of their fourth roommate and the leader of ITEM.

"Tch, will you all fucking shut up!? I don't care about who our new neighbor is, but if they piss me off…" Mugino Shizuri, also known as the Meltdowner, threatened viciously. She held up a hand that had a floating glob of bluish-white light, primed for firing.

"See what I super mean?" Saiai deadpanned blandly, leveling a blank stare at Frenda.

At that moment, the door-bell rang and grabbed the collective attention of ITEM.

"They're here! What do we do!?" Frenda panicked while flailing her arms, not knowing what to do. If it was an enemy, she could just pull out a gun and shoot them.

But a new neighbor that was coming next door to greet them? She knew absolutely nothing of that.

"Feh, you were the one who was super excited about meeting our new neighbor." Kinuhata snickered mischievously, getting off the couch. "How about I super answer it, just to get it over with?"

"…You'd do that?" Takitsubo asked with a raised eyebrow, looking skeptically at the esper that was making her way to the door.

"She owes me lunch~." Saiai sang with a grin on her face. Despite her upbeat attitude, she could feel goose-bumps that grew more and more frequent as she walked closer to the door to answer. It was the same feeling she'd gotten when ITEM had been assigned to eliminate…

'_No… it super couldn't be…it's not like that super monster dude is on the other side of the door…_' Kinuhata thought uneasily.

She opened the door and found that her premonition had been right, despite not having it as an esper power. Kamijou Touma was standing at the door step of ITEM's apartment, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish expression on his face.

"Um, hey, I just moved in he-" Kamijou's words were cut off as Saiai loudly slammed the door in his face.

Kinuhata locked the door quickly, trying to blockade it with her body. She was sweating profusely with a pale visage, her entire body quivering uneasily. The other members of ITEM could hear mutter, "Shit shit shit shit shit shiiiiiiiit…".

"…Basically, Kinuhata, why are you like that?" Frenda inquired uneasily, wondering what could terrify her teammate to that extent.

The short girl looked at her curious teammates, a very shaky smile on her face. "W-W-W-Why d-don't y-you s-s-super s-see f-for y-yourself?" Saiai stuttered with horror visible in her voice.

"…Erm, okay…" The blonde girl accepted reluctantly, slowly getting to the door. When she finally got there, Kinuhata performed an expert acrobatic technique and landed behind the couch. The top of her head popped up, watching the door warily.

Frenda gulped, unlocking the door. She opened it and her eyes bulged out of their sockets.

Kamijou blinked, having waited patiently for the girl to open the door and only found a different person from before. "So, I just moved in and-"

He was once again cut off by a gibbering Frenda, who proceeded to make the same actions as Saiai. She proceeded to slam the door shut and lock it, going to hide behind the couch while praying the 'scary monster' to leave them in peace.

"…Um…who was there?..." Takitsubo questioned quietly, oblivious to the duo's fears. She got up and went to see who the fear-instigator was.

Another unlocked, opened, slammed, and locked door later, Takitsubo was behind Frenda and Takitsubo, shuddering with her eyes wide.

"Oh what the fuck..." Mugino growled as she had watched the entire procession.

"You guys can't open a damn door? It doesn't take a Level 5 to do it." The Meltdowner grumbled, trudging her way to the door. She brought a hand behind her back, charging up a laser just in case.

The door was opened for the fourth time and Mugino _froze_. Her face was mirroring a goldfish in the sense that she was gaping.

"Okay, this is seriously getting annoyi-Will you listen!?" Kamijou yelled in exasperation, stopping the door from closing by sticking his foot in the way.

"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Fool me thrice, I don't even know. Fool me _four freaking times?_… This Kamijou-san is starting to get a bit testy." Touma said with his eye twitching, staring at the door.

Shizuri's mind was in a jumble, having made her shut the door (or tried to, at least) impulsively. As the Level 5 fully registered who ITEM's new neighbor was, Mugino began to blush deeply and could only try to close the door _again_ on impulse.

Kamijou finally had enough and smashed the door to splinters with a single kick, his arms crossed sternly and a vein bulging visibly on his forehead. Shizuri could only get out of the way fast enough for none of the wood to strike her.

The spiky-haired boy's anger vanished as he gave a second look to the residents of the apartment. He frowned, bringing his right hand up to his chin in a contemplative gesture.

"Say…have we met before?" Kamijou asked curiously, pointing at the Meltdowner and the trio that was hiding behind the couch.

"…Have we met before...have we met before!? That's all you can say!?" Kinuhata shouted, her patience and common sense worn thin by the oblivious boy.

"How can you forget the people who tried to _kill you!?_" Saiai raged, waving her arms around to her teammates and leader. The other girls were gesturing hurriedly while shaking their heads, silently motioning her to stop talking.

"Lots of people have tried to kill me. Do you have anything that sets you apart from those others?" Kamijou deadpanned, making ITEM stare at him in disbelief.

"Ah… our group teamed up with another one and we worked together to beat you. Also, our leader tried to blast you head off while the other group's leader tried to slice you up with those weird wings." Takitsubo provided quietly, feeling more sheepish than fearful.

Touma's eyes widened as he smacked his right fist into an open palm, finally realizing who the girls were. "Oh, that's right! By the way, how have you all been?"

" 'How have we all been', he super asks." Kinuhata muttered sarcastically, shamelessly hiding behind the still-quivering Frenda. "I'll tell you how we've super been! You and your freaking super _weird_ powers scared the shit out of us! Do you super know how many nights of sleep I've lost because I was thinking that you'd come back and finish the job!?"

"We were all moved into a single apartment at the suggestion of the higher-ups." Rikou informed, slowly moving to one of the living room's secret weaponry stashes while keeping her eyes on the spiky-haired boy.

"…Was it really that bad?" Touma questioned, raising an eyebrow.

There were three shouts of "Yes!" and one timid "No…" to be heard in the apartment. However, everybody was shocked at who had been the source of the quiet voice.

It had been the Meltdowner, whose demeanor had shifted from the usual crass and sour behavior that the other three members of ITEM had come to know. Mugino was clutching her left elbow with her right arm shyly, looking at any place but Kamijou. The girl's face held a luminescent blush, her eyes holding what might have been a reserved happiness or reverence.

"…Okay, then…" Touma began awkwardly.

"Well, I just came to say hi because I'm moving in next door. I… didn't really imagine that my neighbors would be people that tried to kill, but weirder stuff has happened." He shrugged nonchalantly. Kamijou looked around sheepishly at the splintered remains of the door that he'd destroyed. "Ah, you might want to get your door fixed, too…

"Well, bye." Touma said as he left through the entry way, leaving the room quiet.

"…Basically, what just happened?" Frenda asked to the other girls.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"That was awkward…" Kamijou muttered as he unpacked his luggage in the new, spacier apartment that he'd been given. The stuff that had been salvaged from the explosion had already been sent ahead while he had been on vacation, giving him ample opportunity to sort through everything. After an hour of getting everything settled (having enhanced speed tended to help _immensely_), Touma realized something very important.

He had nothing to do.

Kamijou had completed the homework that Komoe had assigned in class before he'd even gone off onto his vacation-that-went-horribly-wrong. Barely anybody knew that the spiky-haired boy was back in Academy City, considering the speedy flight of the Supersonic Passenger Plane. The palpable silence in his new, unfamiliar apartment _almost_ made Touma want to challenge a Level 5 to a fight just to stop his boredom…

'_Wait, what the hell am I thinking!?_' Kamijou thought with horror. '_Has this Kamijou-san been in so many fights that he has accepted!? LIKE HELL!_'

"Such misfortune…" Touma sighed quietly, bored while lying down on the bed in his new apartment. While it was tempting him to take a nap, the soft mattress and sheets weren't enough to stave off his boredom.

"Maybe I should buy a laptop? I have enough money saved up as it is…" Kamijou murmured as he stared at the ceiling.

"But Aogami would probably swipe it under my nose and download some galges on it…" He argued with himself, weighing the pros and cons of getting a laptop. While Touma did have a game system, he'd already completed all of the games on it and there were no new games in stores that caught his interest.

He heard the doorbell ring and got up to answer the door, wondering who it was. '_Now who could that be…_'

Touma opened the door and found…

A thin boy with shaggy white hair and red eyes was standing there with a visible grimace on his face. At his side, a small, widely-smiling girl who looked remarkably similar to the Railgun was hopping up and down excitedly, clad in a blue dress with white polka dots.

"…" Kamijou Touma blinked at he stared at the familiar face of Accelerator and the small girl who looked like Misaka Mikoto.

"Hi there, Kamijou-san! Misaka Misaka says excitedly as she attempts to break the ice."

"Uh…hi…" The spiky-haired boy greeted back, not sure of how the Number One had gotten his new address. Without any hesitation, he decided to ask.

"Why are you here? And for that matter, how did you know where I live?" Touma asked bluntly, pointing at the Strongest.

"Being a Level 5 and _the_ Number One at that, I have special privileges that even the other Level 5's don't. I just used that and my status to get the information out of the Board of Directors." Accelerator explained gruffly with a scowl, internally psyching himself up to continue. "As for why…

"I want a rematch." The albino spouted, clenching his teeth as he waited. After the last time he'd fought (it couldn't even be called a fight, considering that he'd gotten his ass kicked twenty-one ways to Sunday…) the spiky-haired boy, Accelerator had gone over every different reason as to why he'd lost.

The first conclusion he could draw up was that his own body was just _weak_ in terms of physical conditioning. The Level 5 had never needed serious exercise because he could always circumvent it with the amplification properties of his vector manipulation. Adding in his hilariously low pain threshold, Accelerator wasn't surprised that one strong physical strike could take him down if it could get past his vectors.

Another could be that Kamijou had some type of special ability to move past his Reflection. He'd already demonstrated the ability to make contact with the albino's vectors, only getting a dislocation from a single touch. The Level 5 didn't even want to get into the implications of when Kamijou had destroyed the tornado and plasma storm with his bare hands and feet.

In a way, vectors were both Accelerator's greatest strength and weakness. His handler, Kihara Amata, had easily proven that the vectors could be exploited and turned against the albino. And Kamijou Touma somehow had enough physical strength to pulverize physics (Again, Accelerator preferred not to think of the implications he got from that…) if he tried.

Despite all of the overwhelming factors against him, Accelerator still wanted a rematch. He hadn't been in the right state of mind (in fact, he _still_ probably wasn't) when he'd gotten into that fight. The albino had let his anger overcome him in a critical moment during battle and it had cost him dearly. All he could do while Kamijou was still on his 'vacation' was draw up battle tactics for his next encounter.

"…Okay." Touma accepted after several moments of contemplation.

Now, Accelerator just had to get Kamijou to agree to his reque- Huh?

'_Wait, what?_' The albino thought as he registered the spiky-haired boy's assent.

"Say what now?" Accelerator thought out loud, his grimace replaced by visible shock.

"I said 'okay'. I'm kind of bored and I was looking for something to do before you two showed up." Kamijou explained sheepishly.

"…What the hell..." The albino hissed under his breath, angered by the fact that he was just being used to stave off Touma's boredom. While it was true that his request was granted, Accelerator still didn't like to think it was that easy.

"There's no stipulations?" The Strongest asked doubtfully in irritation.

"Nope." The spiky-haired boy said, popping the 'p' in his statement.

"…WHAT THE FUCK, MAN!? DO YOU KNOW HOW LONG I'VE BEEN PLANNING THIS!?" Accelerator suddenly roared, reaching forward and gripping Kamijou's shoulders to shake him back and forth.

" I PREPARED _THIRTY FUCKING SEVEN_ DIFFERENT SCENARIOS IN THE EVENT THAT YOU'D SAY NO AND THEY'RE ALL DOWN THE TOILEEEEETTTTTT!" The albino screamed, jostling Touma with each loud word out of his mouth.

"Do you want to fight or not?" Kamijou deadpanned, the spread Imagine Breaker nullifying Accelerator's vector field as he was being shaken. At those words, the albino realized what he was doing and back off while taking deep breathes to maintain his composure.

"…Misaka Misaka is very confused, Misaka Misaka confesses as she doesn't understand what is going on." Last Order admitted, looking back and forth between the Strongest Esper and the One Who Purifies God and Exorcises the Devil.

"Kamijou Kamijou is also very confused, Kamijou Kamijou says as he agrees with the smaller girl." Touma mutters, intentionally mimicking the Misaka clone's speech quirk. He blinked, remembering another question he wanted to ask.

"Wait, why is the guy who was murdering Misaka clones left and right suddenly walking around with another clone, anyway?" The spiky-haired boy asks, his curiosity piqued.

"I was assigned to guard Misaka Number 20001, also known as Last Order. She's what you could call the administrator of the Misaka Network. There were a few people that tried to take her, but I got in the way." Accelerator explained.

"Misaka Network?" Touma muttered under his breath. "What is that, a hive-mind between all of the Misaka clones?"

"Right in one, asshole." The albino confirmed with his arms crossed.

"Can somebody please explain what's happening, Misaka Misaka asks as she is still waiting for an explanation." Last Order pouted while folding her arms.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Where do we fight, anyway?" Kamijou asked as he walked through Academy City with Accelerator and Last Order. "I doubt that the Board will tolerate collateral damage in a populated District."

"I already have a location in mind. But whether or not it will stay standing after our fight is debatable." The albino said without a moment's hesitation, not refuting Touma's claim of inevitable destruction.

"It's a surprise, Misaka Misaka says, not wanting to ruin the surprise." Last Order grinned in anticipation.

"We're here." Accelerator grunted as he stopped walking.

"Wait a minute, isn't this-" Touma frowned as he looked around the district.

"School District 2, the district that holds the training facilities of Judgment and Anti-Skill officers." A familiar voice interjected from the trio's right, making their gazes shift to that direction.

"Yomikawa-sensei?" Kamijou blinked as he recognized the physical education teacher from his school.

"You really do like causing a stir in this city-jan." Yomikawa Aiho snickered, clad in her Judgment equipment. "Kamijou-chan, do you know how much talk's going around about you in Judgment and Anti-Skill?"

"There was talk about me?" Touma asked tiredly, raising an eyebrow at the older woman.

"Yes, there's actually quite a bit, Kamijou Touma-san."

The unknown voice had made the recently-high-strung Kamijou jump away from the close proximity of it. That didn't really bother the people around him at all, considering it was a perfectly acceptable surprise.

What did bother them was the fact that he jumped away far and high enough to land on the side of a building, standing on the window with no visible equipment or ability keeping him up.

"…Do you guys know he could do that, Misaka Misaka asks quietly." The small clone stared between the feet-shaped imprints in the concrete from where Kamijou had launched himself and where he currently was standing without gravity supporting him.

"…I'm starting to think that he can literally do anything if he actually tries." Accelerator muttered while palming his face with both hands.

Everybody else was just doing the same action as Last Order. Namely, staring in dull surprise at Touma's stunt.

"Umm, I didn't mean to startle you, Kamijou-san." Shirai Kuroko called out to the paranoid spiky-haired boy. In hindsight, teleporting right next to him probably wasn't the best course of action that she could've taken. The girl with the twin-tailed hair was unsure of how to deal with the fact that she was near the powerful and monstrous individual who slaughtered _thousands_ of Misaka clones.

Or the even more monstrously powerful person who had defeated Accelerator for that matter.

'_I wonder what Onee-sama would say if she saw this…_" Kuroko thought idly, curious about what the Railgun would do if she knew that the Strongest and that strange man that the Electromaster always seemed to rant about were both in the same place. More specifically, they were both in the same place to have a fight.

'_Hopefully, she won't find out, at least for a while._' Shirai thought worriedly, already imagining the sparky rage of Misaka Mikoto.

"Eh, don't worry about it." Touma shrugged without worry, once again startling everybody as he blurred into the empty space next to Accelerator. In response, the albino could give a small flinch at his sudden reappearance.

'_I didn't even sense him…_' The Level 5 thought, disturbed by the spiky-haired boy. To make matters even more chilling, he could sense no AIM whatsoever in Touma's speedy actions.

"Alright, alright, everybody, let's calm down-jan." Yomikawa raised her voice, attempting to placate all of the teenagers and child. Her demeanor had turned serious, garnering their attention.

"We're all gathered here, along with several higher-end officers from both Judgment and Anti-Skill acting as spectators from several undisclosed locations, to observe the officially-sanctioned spar between Accelerator and Kamijou Touma." Aiho announced while looking over the participants of the spar in question.

"There are going to be spectators watching…" Touma muttered before giving a deep sigh.

"Whatever, let's just start the violence already." He continued, cracking his knuckles and stretching himself in preparation for combat.

"I'm going with the asshole on that. I only agreed to this because I could have a rematch." Accelerator muttered, more of his battle plans surfacing into his intelligent mind.

"Both of the combatants must now go to their respective corners to wait as we have the recording equipment still being set up." Yomikawa commanded, easily sliding into the role of an impromptu referee.

"Oooooohhh, Misaka Misaka is so excited, Misaka Misaka says, unable to contain her excitement!" True to her word, the girl was hopping up and down, her arms flailing every which way.

"That makes one of us, I suppose…" Kuroko murmured, dreading the inevitable collateral damage from the fight. If she hadn't been occupied with that, the teleporter would have squealed with delight at how adorable the miniature version of her 'Onee-sama' was.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Are both of you ready?" Aiho asked both of the combatants, having had Kuroko teleport her and Last Order to a designated room that would be completely safe from Kamijou and Accelerator's battle.

In theory, at least.

Yomikawa knew vividly well that theories were worth crap when practicality was brought into play. She'd seen a few of the plans that Accelerator had written out to win a battle with Touma and thought that they were absolutely flawless.

Again, in theory.

Aiho could feel it in her _bones_ that every single plan that Accelerator threw out in the battle would be shot to hell upon contact with Kamijou Touma.

"Let's get this started…" Yomikawa muttered to motivate herself.

"The District has been restructured in preparation for this battle to factor in the destruction potential of both combatants. Everything and everybody that would get in the way has been respectively moved and evacuated out of the district to make room." The woman continued to explain.

"The battle ends when either combatant gives a vocal indication of surrender or first blood is drawn. Is that understood?" Aiho asked.

"Loud and clear, Yomikawa-sensei." Touma confirmed from his location at the end of one street.

"Tch, whatever." Accelerator grunted his reluctant assent, standing at the opposite end of the street that Kamijou was standing at.

"Once the timer counts down to zero, the battle will begin." Yomikawa nodded as she motioned toward the timer equipment.

"Three." Kamijou tensed up as he got ready.

"Two." Accelerator swallowed as he double and triple-checked his battle plans.

"One." A small bead of sweat ran down Kuroko's temple as she was wringing her hands nervously. Last Order sat next to her, completely oblivious to the teleporter's actions.

"Begin!" Aiho shouted, signifying the start of the fight.

The battle had begun.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Hoo boy, lots of characters in this one while I'm trying to handle my own alterations of the Three Stories Arc.

I show a bit of perspective on Kanzaki, Stiyl, and Index's side as they deal with Yamisaka Ouma in their own strange way.

Touma's poor old room got blown the f #k up while he was on vacation, but as a trade-off, he's now in a larger apartment!

The first appearance of ITEM, in which that poor door is abused by the girls and finally put out of its misery by our dear Kamijou Touma. A little glimpse of Mugino as an M as well!

Accelerator makes a reappearance (without being crippled, I might add) along with Last Order making her first appearance. Hopefully, I pulled off their characterization well.

Accelerator got calmed down a bit, as you saw in the hospital scene with him. Or not, considering his little shouting fit when Touma agreed to a match with him.

The reason that Last Order didn't really call Touma the 'Savior' is because as far as the Misaka Network can work out (at the moment), he's just a weirdly powerful person that beat the crap out of Accelerator. In canon, part of the reason Kamijou won over the Misaka Network is because he'd done one of his infamous speeches and had expressly shown his determination to protect Misaka (Well, all of the Sisters, too…).

But in my story, Touma just cut right to the chase and beat the holy shit out of the albino dude…

And now Judgment and Anti-Skill come into play, albeit only by reference. The main 'representatives' could be Yomikawa and Kuroko, I guess. Also, yes, School District 2 really is the location of the training facilities for Judgment and Anti-Skill in canon. Plus I was looking through the TAMNI Wiki for a good place to set up Round 2 of Touma vs Accelerator.

I'd contemplated bringing in more of the Railgun cast, but it would end up with way too many characters…

I almost thought I couldn't get this chapter released in time due to two main factors.

First, I was being a lazy-ass. Seriously, I had lots of opportunities to do this earlier, but I almost _always_ just write these chapters out completely in the span of two-three days. Well, a matter of hours spread out through those days, anyway.

Second was…

Homestuck.

It's an online web-comic that's done by a very intelligent person named Andrew Hussie. I started reading after I heard about it somewhere.

It involves these four kids (and a variety of other characters) in a weird game involving a few weird things.

Including, but most definitely not limited to:

Kernelsprites.

Quirky sophistication and very, very, _very_ complex plotline.

Soft puppet ass… I think I lost some sanity just typing something like that…

Did I mention the trolls that constantly troll the kids at any point in their timeline? Seriously, they can choose any point in the timeline of each kid to start a chat with them…

End Mini-Rant

Did I pull off the characterization well or did I completely screw everything up?

Have any of you readers read Homestuck? And if you have, what do you think about it?

Leave a review, please.

Just… signing off-Loopsey


	14. Round Two

Pre-Chapter Notes: For those writers that are reading my story, have you ever felt that you can't write any Author Notes when you actually get around to doing that?

Whatever.

First off, this chapter is actually showing the second round of Touma vs Accelerator, unlike what I did with Touma vs Kanzaki.

Don't you guys feel relieved now?

Also, some news.

PokeRescue18, a fellow writer of TAMNI stories, has become my beta-reader for this story and will start helping with the grammar/spelling errors that I never seem to find until I read the posted chapter.

Everybody give some thanks to him for volunteering!

But I'll still try my best to release chapters on a weekly basis. PokeRescue18 will iron out the errors and I'll replace the un-beta-ed version of the chapter with the corrected version.

On with the chapter!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Tsuchimikado Motoharu gave a low whistle, looking over the damaged magic circle on the island that the Kamijou family had chosen as their vacation spot.

"Man, Kami-yan really doesn't any loose ends…" The blonde spy muttered with his arms crossed.

The nearby foresting had been completely uprooted down to the last blade of grass from whatever his friend had done to stop the Devil Rise and destroy Baal.

That last part still unnerved Tsuchimikado as he surveyed the dried black blood splattered everywhere over the various trenches where the ground had been gouged into. The marks suggested that some sort of beast had bitten into (or _through_) the ground and torn pieces of it out.

Motoharu knelt down on one knee to trace the satanic markings in the ground, his spine constantly feeling like it had been replaced by ice. A prideful fool Baal may have been, he had a fair amount of demonic knowledge to even begin creating the ritual.

"Maybe I need to see further in…" The double-agent considered as he thought about using magic to see how much deeper the demonic indentations went. While there was always the risk of almost dying, Tsuchimikado still wanted to see if Touma did as thorough of a job as he had.

'_Screw it. I need to do it._' He conceded internally, beginning a chant for a certain spell. Using the spell, Motoharu could sense the tectonic movements under the earth and accurately use it to keep track of any occurring earthquakes. But it was not for that purpose that the blonde spy used it.

The spell was used to track ley-lines.

Tsuchimikado still didn't entirely understand how it worked that way, but he wasn't complaining. He needed to use the spell and _by God_, he was going to use it.

He started to bleed copiously from every orifice in his body, his nature as a magician conflicting with the artificial adjustments that Academy City had performed upon him to make him an esper.

However, he didn't stop. Tsuchimikado hadn't come as far as he did just because he gave in to a little pain. Then again, bleeding _everywhere_ tended to cause more than a little pain.

After what felt like an eternity (in actuality, ten minutes) of pain and searching, Motoharu found something _odd_.

It wasn't demonic corruption, at least. If the ley-lines of the earth were to be perverted with the distorting properties of demonic energies, natural disasters would practically occur on a daily basis.

Tsuchimikado expelled a shuddering gasp, falling back onto his behind in exhaustion and excruciating pain. He reached his hand up to his face and felt himself sweating with clammy skin. The reason why he was like that was a very simple reason. Motoharu finally knew what his friend had done to stop the Devil Rise.

Kamijou Touma had momentarily activated the entire network of ley-lines under the earth.

He had only had it active long enough to purge the demonic taint that Baal had instilled with the design of the ritual, but there was divine residue left behind as evidence of his act. Tsuchimikado had found a small trace of divine energies (but not Telesma) and tracked it until he pieced the entire puzzle together.

"I've said it before and I'll say this again. Kami-yan, you can be a really scary guy when you want to be." Motoharu murmured as he got up off the ground to find some medical attention.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Begin!" Yomikawa Aiho shouted, signaling the start of the fight between Accelerator and Kamijou Touma.

Both of the contestants were facing each other from a lengthy distance, ensuring that there would be no complaints of starting space. To assist in the full recording of the match, there were high-tech miniature tracking cameras set up just outside of the District, set up to take high definition footage and the feature to zoom in on the boys from a distance.

"Let's get this started." Accelerator murmured with narrowed eyes, beginning to execute his first plan in order to combat the one who had defeated him.

The albino barely managed to actually produce any plans due to the obscurity of Kamijou's capabilities. Truthfully, he _had_ concocted a rather simple plan that Yomikawa had jokingly labeled as Operation Bombardment.

To put it bluntly, Accelerator's first plan was to throw so many attacks at Kamijou that he would have no chance of doling out a decisive counter attack. If it worked, the spiky-haired boy might actually get struck with something that draws first blood. If it _didn't_ work…

Plan B would be burying him under a multitude of buildings and whatever the hell else Accelerator could find in order to keep the spiky-haired monster bastard occupied. In the meantime, the albino himself would try to come up with a Plan C.

"Let's see how you deal with THIS!" Accelerator shouted, stamping his foot into the concrete. It sunk in slightly as the Strongest amplified and manipulated the vectors in the stomp, beginning to make a small crack in the concrete.

The crack in the street grew larger and larger, making debris fly up everywhere as the crack spread in front of and behind Accelerator. There was visible vibration in the air from the quaking ground, spreading through the entire district that the battle was taking place in.

Touma's eyes widened at the lengthy span and speed at which the fissure came toward him, prompting the spiky-haired boy to quickly leap away from the quake. He stuck himself to the side of another building with a rather unorthodox method. While some people would prefer to think that Kamijou used some type of special ability to null gravity or magnetize himself to the steel inside the building, the truth was much more ridiculous.

Touma stuck to the side of the building by gripping it with his toes, despite wearing his shoes.

If anybody were to know that method, they would surely say that it was him being 'insane'.

Kamijou, on the other hand, called it being 'practical'.

He continued to watch the fissure go down the street and tracked it with his eyes, secretly curious to see how far it would go.

After the quaking finally settled down, Touma looked at the giant chasm in the ground, measuring to have gone roughly nine feet deep and having giant pieces of uprooted concrete from when the fissure had roared through. Accelerator had been _very_ thorough in his initial stomp as he'd allowed it to cover a great distance, the length astounding everybody who gazed upon it.

A whole minute had not even passed by since the 'spar' began and Accelerator had _split the entire district in half_.

"He's not holding anything back." Touma commented, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"I can't afford to hold back."

Kamijou's eyes widened at the familiar tone and turned his head to the source, only to be met with Accelerator's fist as he barely had time to register the four high-velocity tornadoes that supported the esper's flight. The punch flung Touma _very_ far and he'd been smashed through at least five different buildings before he could finally gain his bearings and attempt to stop his continuous flight.

"Okay. So. He's. Gotten. Better." Kamijou grunted each word as he passed through each building without worry, snapping his arms out to catch onto the side of another building that he was skidding against.

His left arm dug into the building, pieces of painted stone scattering to the far-below ground as Touma gradually slowed down. The wall besides him had a thin trench being carved into it from the moving Kamijou's arm. Eventually, there was no more wall for the spiky-haired boy to stick his arm into as he descended from the edge of the building.

At the angle that Touma was flying, his body struck into another wall, making him positioned in the stone in a way that one would think he was attempting to create a stone angel instead of a snow angel. Kamijou gave a small grunt and peeled himself out of the wall. Just as he was about to jump to the ground, he saw a gray something-or-other blurring towards him at high speeds. Clearing the dust from his vision, Touma soon saw that it was a disconnected streetlight that was hurtling through the air.

Kamijou quickly dislodged himself from the building and kicked off straight at the gray streetlight. He ticked down the seconds in his head as he came closer, snapping his arm out to catch the steel pole by its end and held it close to stopper its momentum. Touma twirled through the air three times before he finally touched down in the deep chasm that Accelerator had produced, still holding the streetlight.

"Alright, I have to give you props for that. But! That doesn't mean I'm finished yet, asshole." The albino said as he flew down to the chasm and stopped manipulating the vectors in the air, causing the tornados to disperse while dropping him into the chasm several meters away from Kamijou. Accelerator's landing caused a small semi-spherical crater as a result of his Reflection, also spreading dust into the air around him.

"I've always wanted to try this…" Accelerator murmured as he reached his pale hand out to the curved wall of the trench, digging into it. Pulling out a large boulder, the esper reached back and flung it with great force at Touma.

In response, Kamijou swung the streetlight that he was holding like a baseball bat. The improvised swinging instrument pulverized the large stone to pieces and spreading dusty rubble everywhere.

More boulders flew at him and Touma could only keep swinging over and over again. He finally got tired of the demented sport that they were acting out and flung the large steel pole aside, dealing with the next stone by head-butting it. The force behind the strike utterly fragmented the flying mass of debris, dust coating Kamijou and his clothes.

"I suppose having a thick skull _is_ good for something." Touma snickered idly, running his hands through his hair to get the dust and pebbles out. At that point, Accelerator was backing up cautiously as his mind was formulating at least fifteen different plans to continue fighting.

As the dust particles in the air still floated, another idea flashed into the esper's head and he gave a dark chuckle that made Touma even more alert than he was before. Accelerator's face sprouted a mischevous grin on it as he looked at the spiky-haired boy.

"Tell me, have you ever heard of a dust explosion?" The thin boy asked, making Kamijou compare the way he said it to when the Railgun had asked him about her signature move.

Touma got a sense of foreboding, remembering all of the scattered dust from the copious amounts of collateral damage that both of them had instigated. He was barely able to begin moving as Accelerator raised his arms out and made contact with the vectors around him.

"Oh shi-" Kamijou's curse was cut off as the entire trench was engulfed in a conflagration of epic proportions, the wind roaring as it was sucked into a sudden vacuum to fuel the flames.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"I don't know who the biggest monster between them is. The one who's doing all the damage or the one who's taking all of it without a scratch…" Kuroko murmured as she, Yomikawa, and Last Order still watched from the vantage point just outside of District 2. She could only continue to be thankful that she was somewhere _far_ away from where the actual damage taking place.

After having woken up in a hospital bed near her Onee-sama and Mental Out, Shirai had questioned the doctor (who apparently had a face resembling her Onee-sama's favorite frog mascot) on what had occurred. He'd succinctly given her a quick rundown of the Dark Side and all of the relevant details that were included within it.

Mental Out had offered Kuroko the opportunity of having her memories wiped to forget the entire emotionally-taxing experience, but she'd declined. It wouldn't be right if she backed out and left her Onee-sama by herself.

On the other hand, the revelation of the Sleeping Dragon's identity made Shirai feel like her friend, Saten Ruiko, would be very miffed if she knew that the teleporter knew. The fact that it really _was_ a Level 0 left the girl doubting whether or not the boy was 'normal'. But at the time, Kuroko had stashed the information away for time being as she simply decided to look outside the hospital window at the space elevator that was still in construction, chatting with Mikoto all the while.

The only reason that she'd even been invited to the battle was on account of her abilities to easily transport her superior and the small Misaka clone that Accelerator was assigned to guard. Kuroko _still_ found that last piece of information to be completely ironic, considering his past history with the Sisters.

Watching the battle was turning out to be an experience that educated the girl in the way that while the Railgun was powerful, there were still more people in the world that were undoubtedly above her. And at the moment, Shirai had no doubts that the two combatants might actually destroy the entire district before their fight was finished.

"Heh, I'm with you on that-jan." Aiho scoffed, but still taking a slight amount of joy in Kuroko's haunted fascination at the clash between Accelerator and Kamijou. It was nice in its own strange little way that Aiho wasn't the only one who had that reaction to the ridiculous strength of the boys. She was already used to the collateral between Komoe's student and the other Level 5's, considering that her own shock was quickly worn off at the repetitiveness of the violence that Touma repeatedly found himself in.

'_Seriously, it's like Kamijou-chan is a chaos magnet!_' Yomikawa thought with exasperation, slumping down in her chair. The buxom woman leaned her head onto her left fist, grimacing as she watched the ongoing fire on the screen. She took no joy in seeing the actual fight, seeing as it was simply two (admittedly powerful) teenagers that were fighting because of her higher-ups in Academy City's police force.

"Yomikawa-san," Kuroko began, making the older Judgment officer turn to her with a quizzical expression. The teleporter gulped as she watched the raging flames on the screen, voicing a question.

"Just how did they get so powerful?" Shirai asked, causing Yomikawa to blink several times at the middle-schooler's question. The woman frowned thoughtfully and leaned forward, resting her head on her clasped hands.

"Now _that_ is a very good question…that I unfortunately do _not_ have the answer to." Aiho responded with a wince. The teleporter had asked a perfectly reasonable question, but even Yomikawa herself couldn't begin to fathom the lengths at which the two boys had flung themselves through in order to get as far as they did.

"As far as I can tell, the boys have had their abilities as long as they've remembered and they just got used to them. Compounding a number of years involving their experience in testing the limits of those same abilities and expanding upon them, I would be surprised if they _didn't_ know the ins and outs of their abilities." Yomikawa analyzed, showing that there was a serious side to her behind the fun-loving joviality of the easy-going P.E. Instructor.

"So, basically, Accel and Kamijou-san lived with their powers their entire lives, Misaka Misaka simplifies as she waits for both of the boys to come out of the fire." Last Order murmured, her eyes still watching the screen.

"But that doesn't make any sense as to how their powers were analyzed." Kuroko pointed out, unveiling her inner skeptic to the other two residents of the room.

"Oh, that's the thing. Accelerator's power was thoroughly analyzed by a Kihara." Aiho informed, continuing to elaborate. "Kamijou-chan, on the other hand…

"Academy City can't even begin to detect his power. It's even more obscure than Attack Crash, which was labeled a black box." Yomikawa said bluntly, the admission like a metal weight pressing down even further on the tense atmosphere of the observation room.

"What!?" Shirai yelled incredulously, leaping out of her seat. "But how!? Academy City's analytical prowess is-"

"Not enough to detect Kamijou Touma's ability. He's outside of science's scope as far as his power is concerned." Yomikawa finished blandly, cutting off the younger Judgment officer before she could finish her outburst.

Kuroko slumped back into her own seat, the hot air taken out of her argument by Aiho's succinct words. "Then…why is he still a Level 0? Even if his power can't be tracked, it's still too prominent to be ignored."

"And so you come to the crux of the matter. That ability that Kamijou-chan holds is the reason why we want him in the work force." Yomikawa stated, shaking her head at the pragmatic attitude of her military superiors in the city. Part of the reason that the 'spar' had been approved was so they could obtain a grip on just how useful Kamijou's combat prowess would be against a rogue esper.

If he proved the capability of defeating the Number One, then Kamijou Touma would prove to be the ultimate defense in the possibility of a Level 5 becoming psychotic.

Yomikawa found the entire affair sickening. While she could agree that the boy would be a great addition, the woman didn't agree with how far that the upper echelon of Judgment and Anti-Skill was willing to take the tests.

'_It'll end up like the Kihara Incident if this keeps up…_' Aiho thought pessimistically, remembering the trail of destruction that Touma had left behind after the Kihara family had gotten their hands on him.

" Hey! Misaka Misaka is beginning to see something! Misaka Misaka says as she squints at the screen." The smallest girl of the three informed, standing up on her seat to look closer at the live footage.

Both Shirai and Yomikawa turned their attention to the screen, seeing two smoky figures burst out of the flames.

'_What the hell?_' The Judgment officers thought with disbelief.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"I guess I can't say that I can survive a nuke anymore…" Accelerator muttered as he made tornadoes on his back again to support himself in the air, having just jumped out of the fire.

When the fire had been jump-started, it had sucked out all of the oxygen in the nearby vicinity, nearly suffocating the albino in the process. His vectors could reflect the shrapnel from destruction and the radiation from a nuclear bomb, but it seemed that he couldn't survive suffocation from lack of oxygen.

"You really have to think out your strategies."

At the voice, Accelerator turned his head and a fist collided with his stomach, mirroring his earlier action with Kamijou. The hard punch disrupted his thought process and calculations, causing his tornadoes to disperse and make the boy fall. He crashed down on the street, creating a large crater as his automatic Reflection kept him safe.

"That was actually pretty damn close." Touma commented as he landed on the ground after having jumped at Accelerator and giving a solid punch, causing his own miniature craters as his feet impacted onto the ground.

The spiky-haired boy kept his blue eyes locked on Accelerator's downed form, not trusting himself to look away from the possibility of the esper rising again. The albino suddenly gasped and his body became wracked with a grievous series of coughing, attempting to get his breathing back in order after Kamijou's vicious strike.

Touma patiently waited for Accelerator to get up as he had the Imagine Breaker ready to nullify anything that the esper would attempt. It was obvious that the Number One had learned from their last fight and it looked like he was keeping himself from going unconscious.

'_Why…_' Accelerator thought as he was on the verge of dry-heaving. '_Why does this happen…_'

Besides springing up more pain in the teenager, the punch had reawakened all of Accelerator's darker thoughts from his past.

He'd constantly watched everybody become hurt by his own power.

He was ostracized as a monster and looked down upon as a mere test subject.

He'd become the Strongest, only to be toppled by a sudden appearance of a new foe.

He didn't even _like_ to fight. Accelerator only put up the façade of being a blood-thirsty maniac in order to drive people away from him so that nobody would be hurt.

But nobody would just.

LEAVE.

HIM.

_ALONE_.

"Why…" Accelerator gasped out as he slowly pushed himself to his feet, trembling like a leaf in the wind. He took one step and stumbled, his back hunching down.

"WHY DOES THIS HAPPEN TO MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!?" The esper roared out to the world.

It was then that an unexplainable phenomenon occurred.

Black mist sprayed out of Accelerator's back, spreading out to wide lengths and coalescing into a vague form that might be called wings. They held an otherworldly sensation as the dark condensed mist hung the air with a low hiss.

Touma could deduce one solid fact from what was happening before him.

Accelerator was experiencing the process of the Awakening.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"What is that!? Could he do that before!?" Kuroko shouted, pointing at the scratchy image that the screen was showing. After the mist sprayed out of Accelerator's back, all of the electronic appliances had started to malfunction from the distorting effects of Accelerator's Awakening.

"Do you I know? I'm just as clueless as you are!" Yomikawa muttered as she was fiddling with the recording equipment and attempting to sort out the static in the footage.

"Misaka Misaka is getting a bit scared, Misaka Misaka mentions as she barely keeps her cool!" Last Order was quivering in her seat, fearful at what was occurring in the supposedly 'secure' room.

The room's lights were flickering on and off, small amounts of electricity arcing around the electrical appliances. Aiho flinched back as the recording equipment lit up in a showy display of sparks and lightning.

"What the hell is going on…" The buxom woman gulped with a wince.

"We have to do something-" Kuroko was once again cut off by Yomikawa.

"Do you really think we can do anything in the middle of this chaos?" Aiho grimaced, reluctantly admitting their helplessness.

"All we can do is hope that everything turns out alright." The buxom woman concluded, quieting the younger girls.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou felt shock coursing through him at the familiar sensation of divinity in the wings and dull look of vacancy on Accelerator's face. The spiky-haired boy knew that look well enough seeing, considering that it had been the same look on his own face after he'd gained the gray wings. Accelerator was in what could be called a berserker state as he couldn't control the eldritch nature of the black wings, which amplified his powers beyond human comprehensibility.

And it was now up to Touma to subdue the berserk esper.

"Well, shit…" Kamijou cursed, cracking his knuckles in preparation of the inevitable ass-kicking that he would have to deliver.

"ndjlcnancl**SOLITARY**ncllnckjlacl" Accelerator spoke in what the spiky-haired boy could identify as the Angelic Language, further confirming his suspicions.

The black wings contorted in the air around Accelerator and gave a mighty flap, a large tornado forming as it howled towards Kamijou. Not concerned about the immediate threat in front of him, the spiky-haired boy walked forward calmly and struck his left hand forth. His fingers wrapped around the lower end of the swirling winds, catching the tornado in his grip. Touma clenched his fist and crushed it, the winds dispersing harmlessly.

Accelerator took flight and stabbed the black wings into the ground. The ground rumbled ominously and eight large rectangular stones that were topped off by concrete boomed out of the ground, levitated by the esper's invisible reach. They descended with impossible speed, the air howling as it struggled against the stone construct.

Kamijou quickly jumped onto the first stone as it crashed into the ground, sprinting up its side to gain ground (or air) and get closer to stop Accelerator's possessed rampage. As he had just reached the top and was about to hop onto the next stone, two of the stones sandwiched Touma between them. Or they would have, if the over-powered youth had not pulverized them with a punch each.

He took off again, hopping from stone to stone like a demented game of hop-scotch. Touma's arms blurred, the remaining five stones exploding into thousands of small fragments. He'd lashed out with five hundred punches simultaneously shot out in a hundredth of a second.

Kamijou spun himself to gain momentum and doubled his speed through the air, suddenly appearing in front of Accelerator and startling him. The black wings moved to protect the albino, but it seemed that Touma was faster.

His right fist struck Accelerator square in the face and disrupted the wings. They dissipated in the air and left the Number One falling back to the ground, unconscious.

The rematch between Kamijou Touma and Accelerator was concluded with the same conclusion as the last confrontation.

Touma had won.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Ruby red eyes once again peeked out behind crust-covered eyelids and gazed upon a familiar ceiling.

'_Don't tell me…_' Accelerator thought blearily, waking up in the same hospital bed from his last visit. He could already deduce what happened, the pain in his abdomen and face metaphorically mocking his failure.

"Yo, you're awake." An unfamiliar voice spoke from his left, surprising the esper. Rubbing his eyes clean of obstructions and saw, much to his trepidation, the teenager who'd won both of their fights.

"You…" Accelerator growled, his voice scratchy from his dry throat. It was already bad enough that he woke up in the hospital after a loss.

Waking up and getting greeted by the asshole that put him in the hospital?

Accelerator was _not_ amused.

'_I didn't even get to use Plan B! I was looking forward to that one, too…_' The albino complained internally.

"I heard that you liked canned coffee, so I snuck some in past the security." Touma said, holding up a grocery bag which clinked with the aluminum cans within it.

'…_Then again…I guess I _could _tolerate his presence…_' Accelerator amended himself, his eyes fixed on the gentle swaying of the plastic bag that held the canned ambrosia. He reached out a shaky hand, only for his sweet, _sweet_ prize to be pulled back with a sound of disapproval from the spiky-haired teenager.

"MOTHERFU-Mmph!" The albino's loud cursing was cut short by Kamijou's right hand muffling his shouts before they even began.

"Shh!" Touma hushed, his left index finger coming up to his tightly-shut lips in an attempt to emphasize the point. His next statement came out in a low whisper, wanting to keep their voices down. "There are other people in this hospital, you know? Do you want to be kicked out on account of noise complaints?"

The short berating was irritating Accelerator to an alarming degree, but he could only grimace and nod reluctantly. The Imagine Breaker came away from the albino's mouth and he finally felt his AIM reform after being continuously nullified. Accelerator held his hand out in expectation, secretly eager to get his hands on a batch of canned coffee.

"Drink this first." Kamijou said, holding out a bottle of water to the hospitalized teenager. "You're probably parched, so get some water down before you start drinking caffeine."

"Tch… fine." Accelerator grunted, accepting the clear plastic bottle with a scowl. He twisted it open with a subtle amplification of vectors and brought it up to his lips, chugging down the liquid. The albino reveled in the feeling of having the pain from his dry throat disappear as the water passed down his throat.

"Well, aren't you thirsty?" Touma snarked with a raised eyebrow, seeing Accelerator drink the entire bottle of water.

Accelerator dried his mouth with the sleeve of his hospital-issued shirt, crushing the plastic bottle and accurately tossing it into the nearby recycling bin. It thudded on the outside opening before sliding in with a clunk. Kamijou leaned back in his chair and clapped sarcastically, not stopping at Accelerator's angered glare.

"There, I drank the fucking water. Now _give me the coffee._" Accelerator said, hissing out his latter words threateningly.

"That's not a very polite way of asking." Touma deadpanned with his arms crossed and his head turned to the side.

'_I lost to this guy?_' Accelerator thought incredulously. He palmed his face with both hands, attempting not to scream in frustration. Taking a deep breath, the albino chose his next words with care.

"Can I _please_ have the coffee?" Accelerator requested cautiously through gritted teeth, hoping that he would finally get the caffeinated drink. If that act that Kamijou was putting kept going, the hospital might end up being replaced by a smoking crater.

"Okay, here you go." Touma said with a sickeningly saccharine smile, handing over the clinking bag. He blinked, suddenly finding his hands empty and heard the sound of pop along with pressure being released.

Accelerator was downing the coffee with renewed vigor, eyes closed with satisfaction. He brought the drink down and sighed, using both hands to carefully cradle the can.

"Ready to talk yet?" The darker-haired of the two teenagers inquired. The albino didn't find the intent in himself to even give a decent scowl as he still relished the liquid caffeine in his hands.

"Fine. Get to the point, though." Accelerator said, grunting as he wriggled into a more comfortable seating position.

"Good. That's what I was hoping for." Kamijou nodded, having gotten his fill of messing with the Strongest. It seemed like he inherited his mother's penchant for teasing other people as well.

"After the dust explosion, what do you remember about our fight?" Touma inquired.

The hospitalized esper frowned, his eyes narrowing as he attempted to recall the memories.

Keyword: Attempted.

All he could gather was that he'd flown out of the fire and gotten knocked to the ground by Kamijou's punch. Everything after that was a blur.

"Nothing, right? I thought so." The spiky-haired boy said, seeing the troubled look on Accelerator's face. He already knew what the process of Awakening entailed, but it never hurt to check if anybody had a more 'unique' experience.

"…You know what happened to me, don't you?" The albino asked bluntly. He didn't bother with beating around the bush. If he had the choice, Accelerator always preferred to just uproot the bush and throw into a shredder to save the trouble.

"Yeah, I do. The real question is: Do you _want_ to know?" Kamijou stated, staring down the Strongest Esper.

"…"

"…"

The room was silent as the two impossibly powerful teenagers had their gazes locked onto each other. The longer the stare-down lasted, the tension became thicker. It reached the point where it would take a chainsaw reinforced with diamond would be needed to cut it.

Accelerator grimaced and sagged back into his hospital bed. He groaned while bringing his hands up to ruffle his hair in frustration. Red eyes looked over at Kamijou.

"Do you _like_ making things difficult for other people?" The albino asked seriously, fully ready to accept that possibility from what little experience he gained from interacting with the spiky-haired boy.

Touma's serious face dispersed into a small grin. "I don't _always_ do that."

"You didn't deny it." Accelerator scowled with a twitching eye.

"I think we both know the answer to that question." Kamijou argued back.

"…Fuck it. Talking to you is an exercise in futility and frustration." The esper admitted tiredly, feeling no energy to bother continuing their back-and-forth banter. To emphasize that, he grabbed the pillow behind his head and moved it to cover his bloodshot eyes, not wanting to look at the source of his aggravation.

Kamijou chuckled at that and got up out of his seat, stretching the sleepiness out of his muscles again. "Fine by me. Enjoy the coffee."

Hearing footsteps and the door sliding shut, Accelerator brought the pillow up from his eyes and looked around the room to make sure that Touma really had gone. The thin boy sighed in relief, thinking that he could finally enjoy some peace, quiet, and the canned coffee at his bed side.

The door slid open again and Last Order stepped in, smiling widely as she usually did.

"Hey there, Accel! Misaka Misaka greets as she waves at her guardian."

"Tch, didn't I tell you not to call me that? I may not remember my birth name, but I prefer to be called Accelerator." The albino grunted out as he looked at Last Order with half-lidded eyes.

"Well, aren't you mean to your charge, Misaka Misaka says bluntly." The small girl pouted with her arms at her hips. Last Order held her angered visage for another few seconds before her pout became more genuine and her arms sagged at her sides.

"Misaka Misaka was worried…" The girl confessed, her gaze saddened as she looked at Accelerator's hospitalized form.

The teenager's stare softened as his expression turned into something more complex. "Oh come on… I'm the strongest psychic in the world. Do you really think something like a punch will keep me down, you shitty brat?"

The Misaka clone's eyes widened at his words. "N-No! Misaka Misaka isn't used to Accel being hurt, that's all! Misaka Misaka apologizes."

Accelerator smirked and gave a snide snicker at her behavior. "Well, don't think that again, shitty brat. I might not forgive you."

"Right-o! Misaka Misaka agrees." The girl saluted clumsily with a serious look.

"Hmph, Good. Now stay quiet while I drink my coffee." Accelerator concluded, grabbing another can and popping it open.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Erm, is there anything I can do for you?" Kamijou asked of the person in front of him, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. He'd only exited Accelerator's room and gone down the hallway before being apprehended by yet another individual.

"Misaka would like to converse, Misaka says as she had waited patiently." Misaka 10032 stated monotonously.

"That's fine by me. Let's sit down first." Touma requested as he pointed to the bench that was conveniently placed for any people that visited the hospital.

"Agreed, Misaka acquiesces." The clone proceeds to take a seat next to Kamijou.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" He questioned with a raised eyebrow.

"…Why?" 10032 asked robotically.

Kamijou blinked. "Why what?"

"Why did you stop the experiment? Misaka elaborates."

He frowned and straightened up at those words. "Because the experiment was killing innocent people. I couldn't stand by and let a meaningless slaughter take place when I have the power to stop it."

"But we are not people. We are clones that were produced with the purpose of advancing the Number One Level 5 to the theoretical height that is labeled as Level 6, Misaka argues." The girl had spoken the entire way through that statement with no emotions and it was making Touma frustrated.

"But that's wrong. Each and every one of you may be clones, but you all breathe air, pump blood, and think thoughts. Hell, you even generate electricity like Biri Biri! I fail to see how you're different from other humans." Kamijou crossed his arms.

"Misaka does not understand what you are saying. Misaka is just another one of the many thousand clones that were created. This Misaka is number 10032 in a long series." The clone spoke hollowly.

"So what!? That doesn't mean you can just throw your life away! Each and every one of you Sisters should be allowed to live your lives to the fullest!" Touma's voice rose to a near-shout as he jumped up off his seat.

10032's normally blank eyes were filled with shock. "Bu-"

"No buts! Even if you're number 10032, you're _still_ the only 10032 in this world and you shouldn't try to say that you're anything less, do you hear!? All of the Sisters are unique individuals! If anybody thinks otherwise, then I'll break that illusion!" Kamijou finished, his passionate tirade quieting the Misaka girl.

"Ah… Sorry about that. I just get kind of fired up sometimes." Touma said sheepishly upon looking at the shocked girl.

"No…it is alright, Misaka says." The girl's tone was quiet as she was continuing to repeat the spiky-haired boy's words in her mind.

"I'll just be on my way now. Have a nice day." Kamijou gave a bright smile down to the girl that he was standing next to. He resumed his walk to the elevator, intent on going to his new apartment for a nap. What he didn't see was that the Misaka clone had a bright blush on her face after being smiled at.

Another thing that Touma didn't know was that the entire Misaka Network had been listening throughout the whole conversation

"Kamijou Touma is a unique person…no…Misaka must say that…

"Kamijou Touma is our Savior."

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Man, writing new characters is always kind of hard…

Accelerator lasted longer because he wasn't screwing around like last time. And you have to remember that this is my version of the Three Stories Arc, so there.

Accelerator's Awakening came earlier than planned. I've always wanted to see what he would be like with the black wings, but not being crippled.

He also got trolled by Touma in the hospital…

The last part of the chapter must satisfy the harem-hungry people if I did it right.

Special thanks to PokeRescue18 for loaning a hand in beta-reading my story.

By the way…

How would you guys feel if I make another OP!Touma story, except with different circumstances?

Basic idea of the story: same OP!Touma, different past than the one in To Ascend.

Upon awakening, his power accidentally killed his parents and his superstitious relatives didn't want to take him on account of the misfortune. Thus, a lonely traumatized seven-year-old wanders through the world with enough power to tear the universe apart...

Along the way, Touma finds himself in the Magic Side and decides to see if there's anybody that could match him in power. After a brutal warpath of destruction by a psychologically disturbed Kamijou, the Magic Side is in shambles while the most prominent magicians watching the reality distorting showdown between the Magic God Othinus (who succeeded at the risky creation of Gungnir) and Kamijou Touma.

Depressingly for Kamijou, he wins again and just walks away while leaving everybody horrified at his power. Othinus, however, is intrigued. Even after a brutal ass-kicking, she wants to know how 'that crazy Kamijou bastard' got that strength.

So, she goes into hiding to recover her strength and restart her schemes.

Meanwhile, Touma sneaks into Academy City (you could say his age could be around... 13? 14?) and convinces Aleister to let him stay. During his occupation, he proceeds to meet all of the Level 5's and piss all of them off.

Except Gunha. They're kind of like bros, considering Sogiita and Touma's personalities and questionable sanity.

Cut to time of canon. (Also the first chapter of what this fic would be)

Kamijou goes out to his balcony and finds...

Othinus.

...

Damn, that sounds kind of weird now that I type it out...

What do you guys think?

Leaving you guys to contemplate-Loopsey


	15. Chairs Are Dangerous

Pre-Chapter Notes: I almost thought I couldn't release a chapter this week…

But dang, I got a lot of feedback on the fic idea from last chapter! As for the illusionary parents idea, I'm sorry, but I think that would make Touma even crazier than before. It's a nice idea, but it's (as the British might say) not really my cup of tea, y'know?

Some of you guys hit the nail on the head with the issue I would have if I wrote that story right now, though. I don't think I can really handle writing two fics at once, but maybe in the future or after I finish To Ascend, I'll try my hand at it.

Give thanks to PokeRescue18 for his assistance in fixing my grammar/spelling errors!

Let the chapter begin!

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Okay, we knew that there were people in this city that had amazing abilities, but this is redefining what we know about how far their abilities can reach." Kazari Uiharu said, her eyes glued to the footage that was playing on her computer screen. Her comment was derived from the subject that the video regarded. Sitting next to her was Konori Mii, whose attention was solely on the video footage from District 2.

The footage in question had been the second battle between the Sleeping Dragon and the Strongest Esper.

The higher-up officers in the police forces of Academy City had authorized the in-job distribution of the video, allowing the officers of all ranks to view two of the most powerful individuals in Academy City do combat. There had been suspicions when there had been reports of earlier evacuations in District 2.

What sealed the deal on the rumors was the total amount of collateral damage that was later reported at the very same district after earlier quaking and the sounds of collapsing buildings had been heard.

"But there's still something odd about that part near the end. The video started to get scratchy near the end when Accelerator got back up, but then it showed that he was unconscious again after more collateral damage appeared." Konori analyzed thoughtfully, having Uiharu replay the referred segment over and over again. The discrepancies were making the girl feel that something undeniably strange had happened, but she couldn't put her finger on whether or not it was just an impulse.

"I can't seem to fix the static, so who knows what happened…" Kazari pouted, slumping in her chair at another failed attempt of restoring the faulty video segment. Her eyes widened as she remembered something important.

"Ah! I have to make sure that Saten-san doesn't see this. If she finds out that I kept this footage from her, she'll…I don't know what she'll do!" The flower-headed girl continued nervously, not liking that she had to keep a secret from her friend.

"Make sure I don't see what?" A curious voice sounded out behind the girls. Konori and Uiharu jumped in surprise, turning their heads to see the new addition.

Saten Ruiko was honestly curious as to what had the two Judgment officers' attention and why Kazari had spoken up with her name involved. She'd come to the office in order to take her friend out for a lunch break and to tell her about the latest rumors.

Or more especially, the sudden increase of information regarding the Sleeping Dragon.

It had turned out that the rumored figure might have involvement in some of the lesser-known rumors that had been spawned over the last decade in Academy City. Several of them had involved mention of an individual that might actually possess invincibility that not even the Number Three's Railgun could pierce. Others included the whisperings of an ability that could nullify other abilities.

Saten and a group of her more rumor-savvy friends had begun to compare rumors and found some oddities between all of them. Each and every one of them involved a higher level esper becoming defeated by some manner of an unknown student (one that might currently just be a first or second year in high school, if their guesses were right) that was labeled as a Level 0. They had all pried deeper and found a number of theories stating that the ability might be real, but it didn't show up on Academy City's System Scan.

But it was only a theory as far as the rumor-tellers could say. Whoever the Sleeping Dragon was, they had done an almost impeccable job of shrouding themselves in mystery.

"What don't you want me to see?" Ruiko asked again, an eyebrow raised as she looked at Konori (who quickly took on a poker face) and Uiharu (who was sweating bullets and refusing to look her in the eye).

"E-Ehh, it's nothing. We were j-just looking at a v-video…" The flower-headed girl stuttered, her fingers frozen in the middle of her typing. At that, Saten's other eyebrow rose to meet the first, her curiosity rising at what her friend might be hiding. She hatched a small and 'harmless' plan to find out.

"M'kay, I wanted to know if you wanted to go get some lun-Show me what's on the video!" Ruiko yelled as she lunged past the two and quickly maneuvered the cursor to play the footage.

Said video was titled, 'Dragon versus Number One'. Needless to say, Ruiko was caught off-guard.

One minute into the video, her jaw had dropped.

Two more minutes, her body was quivering in…she wasn't entirely sure whether it was excitement, anticipation, or both. The battle was epic enough to catch her complete attention as she was seeing _at least_ fifteen interconnected rumors become confirmed on the computer screen.

As the video ended, Saten was completely still as she stared at the blank computer screen with wide eyes, jaw gaping. Konori and Uiharu were both sheepish, having felt a bit inadequate that they weren't able to stop the girl with their training.

Ruiko twitched, jolting away as she rubbed her drying eyes. She smacked her lips twice and looked at the other girls, blinking. The Level 0 pointed at the screen wordlessly and the Judgment officers nodded.

"Okay, then…would one of you catch me if I faint?" Saten asked of the two girls. They were understandably confused, but nodded nonetheless.

"That's good. Because I'm going to faint right now." True to her word, the girl's eyes rolled into the back of her head and she dropped back motionlessly. Uiharu yelped, quickly splaying her arms out to catch the girl.

Or tried to, at the very least.

Kazari was smaller than Ruiko and found herself caught under the slumped form of the unconscious girl. She yelped out at Konori. "C-Can I get some help, please?"

"Hang on, Uiharu. It'll be easier if you don't struggle." Mii advised with an amused giggle, getting up to assist the younger girl.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"It's been a while since all three of us have hung out, huh?" Kamijou commented, accompanied by both Aogami Pierce and the recently returned Tsuchimikado Motoharu as they aimlessly traversed Academy City.

"Nya, you've got a point there, Kami-yan. How long _has_ it been?" Motoharu blinked under his sunglasses, tapping his chin in contemplation.

"Does it matter? Besides, it's not like you missed us, anyway! You were too busy doing lovey-dovey things on vacation with beauty-senpai!" Aogami ranted, despite not holding any bad blood behind his words. "Kami-yan, you say you're not popular with girls, but that's complete bullshit!"

"What about you guys? If you stopped acting like idiots,-" Touma ignored the insulted 'Oi!' that he got from both his fellow Delta Trio members. "-you'd probably have girlfriends by now! If you just pick any single type of fetish, it would be an easy search!"

"Ha, you're too naïve, Kami-yan! I have a wide range of acceptance when it comes to women: not just heroines that fall from the sky, but also step sisters both younger and older, step mothers, step daughters, twins, widows, upperclassmen, underclassmen, classmates, female teachers, childhood friends, rich girls, blonde hair, black hair, brown hair, silver hair, long hair, semi-long hair, short hair, bobs, drill hair, straight hair, pigtails, ponytails, braided hair, wavy hair, messy hair, ahoges, sailor uniforms, blazer uniforms, PE uniforms, judo uniforms, archery uniforms, kindergarten teachers, nurses, maids, policewomen, shrine maidens, nuns, military officers, secretaries, lolis, shotas, tsunderes, cheerleaders, stewardesses, waitresses, white gothic, black gothic, china dresses, weak albinos, crazy day dreamers, girls with multiple personalities, dominatrices, princesses, kneesocks, garterbelts, crossdressing beauties, glasses, eyepatches, bandages, school swimsuits, one piece swimsuits, bikini swimsuits, slingshot swimsuits, ridiculous swimsuits, non-human girls, ghosts, animal ears, etc.- any female is within my area of acceptannnnnnccccccceeeeeee!" Aogami gasped, breathing in hard after yelling out the extremely specific listing of depraved fetishes.

"I'm pretty sure that at least one of those isn't a female." Kamijou pointed out with an incredulous impression. "Also, how is it that you can follow, let alone _remember_, that list!?

"Kami-yan, you cannot underestimate the POWER OF ERO!" Tsuchimikado and Aogami bellowed in synch, not feeling an ounce of shame from their declaration.

"I don't know how you guys can say that so easily." Touma commented with wide eyes, feeling awe at his friends. While it was an often occurrence that he was the one that left others in awe, it was empowering to know that he wasn't the only one who could cause it.

The spiky-haired boy blinked, feeling somebody slam into him. He didn't fall down due to the unknown person's weight being less than his own. Kamijou turned his head to the source and found someone he hadn't expected.

"Biri Biri?" Touma said as he looked down at Misaka Mikoto, whose head was currently buried into his chest as her arms were wrapped tightly around him. Misaka's desperate gaze came up to Kamijou, her face red as a tomato.

"Please, just play along!" The Electromaster whispered to him desperately, clutching onto him like a lifeline. Kamijou raised an eyebrow, but nodded at the girl's frantic insistence. Coincidentally, he saw a brown-haired boy with a higher-class uniform standing nearby.

Mikoto backed off with a sheepish laugh, rubbing the back of her head. "Sorry to keep you waiting, I had something I needed to do. So, why don't we talk about it over some lunch?"

"...Huh?" Touma spoke numbly at the odd behavior that the Level 5 was exhibiting. Most, if not _all_, of the time he'd known her, Misaka had always been irritable with an attitude denoting that she was practically thirsty for a fight.

"I'm sure you're hungry, c'mon, let's go!" Mikoto urged hurriedly, grabbing his arm and pulling him along to a nearby restaurant in order to explain her strange situation.

"…Is it wrong that I was expecting something like that to happen sooner?" Aogami asked, turning his head toward his blonde friend.

"I was thinking the exact same thing." Tsuchimikado sympathized, patting his fellow member of the Idiot Trio.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Here's your hotdog." Mikoto said, handing over said meaty snack while holding her own. The spiky-haired boy graciously accepted it and took a bite out of it, wanting to begin what would most likely be an awkward conversation.

"Thanks. Now, would you mind telling me what that was about?" Kamijou inquired bluntly. He'd been dragged away to one of the tables near that abominable device that people still labeled as a bending machine.

He _still_ wanted to blow it up, rules be _damned_.

One explanation later, Touma was laughing with such vigor that Misaka thought that he might actually die of suffocation.

"It's not that funny!" Mikoto denied furiously as she had a deep red blush on her face.

"Hehehehe, yes, it is!" Kamijou argued, his uproarious laughter subsiding into snickers. He took a moment to compose himself to take a bite of his food without choking on it.

"And you need me to play your fake boyfriend so that Unabara guy will finally leave you alone? Why me, anyway?" He continued skeptically.

"You were the only available option." Misaka blushed, not wanting to delve any deeper into her reasons. "I would've chosen someone else if it was possible, idiot."

"I have a name and I'd like it to actually be used properly." Touma deadpanned.

"What is it, then!? You never actually told me anything and the most I could get was Touma! I don't even know if that's your first or last name!" The girl yelled in a comical outburst.

The spiky-haired boy could only sigh in defeat at her argument. "Fine. It's Kamijou Touma, Biri Biri. I really do hope that you start using it."

"Finally! I got a decent answer for once!" Mikoto threw her arms up with a grin at getting a victory (even if it was only a verbal sparring) over the now-named Kamijou. The girl blinked and quickly put her arms back down, blushing as she remembered that she was in front of him.

"Isn't someone feeling a little too satisfied?" Kamijou snarked, smirking at her easily excitable attitude. "Anyway, why am I still here? I've already played the role of a fake boyfriend for you, haven't I?"

"Wait! I need to make sure that everybody sees that we're like a couple to make sure that Unabara will finally leave me alone." Misaka said, her expression complex.

Touma clicked his tongue at her logical statement. Giving a sigh and crossing his arms, the boy capitulated. "Okay, then. But don't go firing your lightning at me once your classmates start spreading rumors."

"…What." The Railgun blinked.

"You treated me like a boyfriend and took me away from my friends in front of that Tokiwadai dorm. I saw that a lot of those ojou-sama girls looking out the window at us."

"Urk!" Mikoto gulped. She grabbed the sides of her head and ran around in panic. "Gaaaahhhhh! What am I supposed to doooooooo!?"

Kamijou continued to eat his hotdog, completely unsympathetic to Misaka's plight.

If anything, the way she was running around like a headless chicken was completely hilarious!

'_I didn't know that the food came with some lunchtime entertainment!_" Touma chuckled.

"A-Are you laughing at me!?" The Electromaster stared in irritation, having finished her short panic attack. Her brown locks were sparking as they were ready to discharge electricity.

"Maaaybe." He spoke smugly.

"You didn't answer the question!" She pointed at the spiky-haired boy with accusation.

"I think we both know the answer to _that_." Touma grinned, languidly raising his right hand to nullify the arc of lightning that was shot his way.

Mikoto sagged and walked over to take a seat across him, losing whatever energy she'd had from her previous bout of anger. "Do you _enjoy_ doing this kind of stuff?"

"If it makes you feel any better, I did this to Accelerator, too." Kamijou informed.

"Actually…yeah, that does make me feel better." Misaka giggled, imagining the comical enragement of the overpowered albino. She thought it was only karmic retribution that he was getting frustrated by the same guy as she was.

"Misaka-san!" A voice spouted out from the distance.

The Level 5 and Kamijou turned their heads to find Unabara Mitsuki running towards them, a bandage wrapped around his right forearm. He looked ghastly, as if he'd been put through a trialing experience.

"Misaka-san, I need to tell you something!" The brown-haired boy said frantically, looking around with paranoia.

"W-What is it?" Mikoto frowned, off-put by his appearance. Just earlier that day, he'd looked completely healthy and _not_ like he'd been attacked by a rabid beast.

"I suppose I should have foreseen this." The trio looked to the new addition, making Mikoto and Touma do a double-take as a _second_, uninjured Unabara Mitsuki walked up to them.

All three of them tensed up at the twisted expression on his face and the jagged onyx stone in his left hand. The Unabara-look-a-like held a demented smirk and crazed eyes, resembling a psychotic killer.

"Okay, this is starting to get weird, even for me." Kamijou muttered under his breath. "I need to start keeping a record of these things…"

"Keep me keyed in on it." Misaka whispered over to him, feeling just as awkward as he was.

"To put it bluntly, I'm going to kill you." The false Mitsuki sneered, pointing the stone at Kamijou. He raised it into position, light flashing at the spiky-haired boy.

Touma quickly lunged out of the way, the table dismantling under the magical assault. The impersonator frowned and reflected Venus's light again, backing up to gain distance from his target. As he attempted to kill the spiky-haired boy, Misaka was holding the real Unabara back from the fight. She held confidence that Kamijou would be able to defeat the unknown enemy, considering his strength.

"Is he going to be alright?" Mitsuki looked on with a worried grimace.

"Don't worry about it. If that guy can take a lightning bolt without a scratch, he'll beat that faker easily." Misaka assured with a nonchalant wave of her hand.

"I see…" The older boy nodded.

After a moment, he blinked at the irrational statement that the Tokiwadai girl had spoken. "Wait, what?"

As Unabara was confused by Misaka's odd words, Touma was gliding around the deconstructing beam of light as he came closer to the faker with each foot step. With every failure, the false Unabara was closer and closer to panicking.

"Say, you're the fake one, right?" Kamijou asked, tilting his head to the side to avoid another beam.

"What of it?" The unknown assailant asked.

"And you're trying to kill me?"

"Yes, I thought that we already established that." The impersonator growled through gritted teeth.

"It means that I won't feel guilty about knocking you out with this chair."

"What."

WHACK!

Thud.

True to his word, Touma had pulled out a nearby chair and bashed the impersonator over the head with it. He'd gone down like a shorted-out light from the blunt force trauma.

Misaka and Unabara blinked several times at the verbal exchange and violent actions that had just occurred before them.

"Huh…I was kind of expecting the fight to be a bit…" Misaka frowned, not finding the right words.

"Longer?" The taller brown-haired boy offered.

"Less one-sided. Usually, his fights last longer." The Electromaster scratched her cheek sheepishly.

"I can't always smack someone around with my fists, Biri Biri. Most of the time, I like using the minimum to beat my opponents." Touma said as he smashed the obsidian stone under his foot and went over to the duo. He frowned at the bandaged arm of the real Unabara.

"Did he do that to you?" Kamijou jerked his head back to the unconscious form of his assassin.

"Y-Yeah, he did. Erm…shouldn't we call Judgment or Anti-Skill?"

The spiky-haired boy waved off his concerns. "Nah, I'll take care of it. I've fought people like him before and I know how to deal with them."

"A-Alright." Mitsuki agreed reluctantly, wincing as he clutched his bandaged forearm.

"Why does somebody want to kill you?" Mikoto jumped into the conversation, intent on getting that question answered.

"How the hell should I know?" Touma shrugged, walking over to the knocked out assailant and looking him over. He tapped him with his right hand, the disguise shattering like ceramic pottery and revealing the dark skin underneath. Foisting the assassin over his shoulder in a fireman's carry, Kamijou grimaced at the real Unabara's bandages, feeling a mote of guilt.

"I'm going to take him to the hospital and find out for myself after he wakes up. But before that…" Touma said distractedly and disappeared.

He reappeared mere inches in front of Mitsuki and grabbed the bandaged arm with his right hand, making the startled boy hiss at the pain from his grip. Kamijou's hand glowed blue with a low hum, steam coming out between the hastily-wrapped medicinal cloths.

"Just a little apology for getting you involved in my mess." Touma turned around and began his trek to Heaven Canceller's hospital. Unabara blinked incredulously and stared down at his arm, which had stopped throbbing in pain after the spiky-haired boy had let go. He unrolled the bandages off of it and found his rationale in turmoil.

His arm was completely unscathed.

A large segment of his skin had been sliced off with the obsidian knife after the impersonator had captured him and it was now completely replaced with healthy skin, unmarked by the earlier injury.

"How did he-" Mitsuki snapped his head up and found that Kamijou had disappeared. He heard a crackling sound and found that Misaka only had a look of irritation, her bangs sparking.

"Every single time…" the girl muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose with her left hand. She sighed as she looked over the limb that Touma had healed through unknown methods.

'_Chalk that up as another unexplainable thing he can do…_' Mikoto frowned.

"Misaka-san, what is his power? I don't seem to recall there being an esper with the ability to heal injuries." Unabara questioned quietly, unnerved by Kamijou. In that spare moment when he'd apparently been healed, the teenager had felt like he'd been in the presence of an unexplainable phenomenon that wasn't supposed to exist.

The girl stared pointedly at the wrecked area around them, bricks sticking out of the ground from the dismantling light of that strange black stone.

"I don't know. All I know is that he's strong. Really, _really_ strong."

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Etzali opened his eyes, nose scrunching up at the strong scent of disinfectant and antibiotics. He grunted as he brought his hand up to rub the bruise on his head. It was throbbing painfully as he attempted to bring full coherence to his thoughts.

"What was I thinking, going in without planning?" Etzali grimaced, massaging his temples.

"That's what _I_ want to know. What were you thinking, trying to kill me?" A horrifyingly familiar voice said.

His head turned fast enough that a cracking sound could almost be heard. The dark boy winced, his headache even worse than before. Etzali's fears were confirmed, finding that his target was now sitting

"Hey, hey, easy now." Kamijou placated with his hands raised. "I'm not here to fight. I want some questions answered."

"Why would you want to 'talk' after I stated my intent to kill you?" Etzali reached for his knife, cursing as he remembered that he'd dropped it after getting knocked out.

"Lots of people have tried to kill me. You're only another tally to the list of 'People that tried to kill me, but failed miserably'." Kamijou said bluntly, making the dark boy blink.

"That explains why you looked so bored when I said that…" Etzali muttered, feeling a bit insulted that he wasn't regarded with the fear that a killer would often attract. Even if he didn't particularly like to kill, he still took a measure of pride in his skills.

"I already know you're a magician, so that question's out of the way. Oh! Let's start with this one: Why do you want to kill me?" Touma inquired, his stare causing a measure of wariness in the failed assassin.

"…Screw it. I'm already in deep shit by getting beaten by you." Etzali murmured. "I was sent by my Magic Cabal in order to monitor the Kamijou Faction. You been getting more and more attention from the Magic and Science Sides after the various messes you left behind. To speak specifically, your involvement with Index Librorum Prohibitorum and the Level 5's of Academy City has begun to make the higher-ups of my organization feel like you might be amassing power and waiting for an ample opportunity to attack both side."

"…The magicians think there's a Kamijou Faction?" Touma looked doubtful at his words.

"You haven't exactly been subtle with your antics in the darker affairs of the world." Etzali deadpanned. "Your presence is starting to gain recognition because you were the one who had a hand in the disappearance of Index and her guardians, one of which being a Saint."

"How did the Magic Side find out about that?" Kamijou asked.

"Any skilled magician that can sense mana could see the recent disruptions and chaotic activity in the ley-lines. After some tracking, the source of said activity was you." The dark boy explained. "You were the only logical culprit after tying all of the evidence together. All of the magic organizations that know about this are preparing to recruit, kill, or take advantage of you.

"Or all three at the same time." Etzali concluded sheepishly.

"…Damn." Kamijou cursed as he slumped in his seat. "I knew that I was doing some weird stuff, but I wasn't expecting anything like _that_."

The magician grunted in agreement. "Tell me about it. It seems like everywhere you go, chaos follows."

Touma glared down at his right hand before turning his gaze back to the hospitalized male. "So…they really think there's a Kamijou faction?"

"Yeah. I'm finding that rather difficult to believe, seeing as you don't look like the type who typically works with other people. No offense, though." Etzali sighed tiredly.

Kamijou slowly grew a wide smile on his face that sent chills up and down the magician's spine. "This is it…

"With this, the Kamijou Faction has taken root! I'll finally get people to take care of my enemies while I can finish my homewooooorrrrrrkkkkk!" Touma bellowed before laughing psychotically.

Etzali's jaw dropped and his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets at the spontaneous personality change that the spiky-haired boy had pulled out of nowhere.

'_He's bat-shit crazy!_' The hospitalized magician thought, wishing that his headache would clear so he could get the hell away from the one who had defeated him.

**Between The Lines**

Laura Stuart did a mighty spit-take, spraying her tea everywhere as she recognized the trio who walked into the room. She'd been having a plain day as she'd gone through the usual paperwork and checked her collection to make sure that nobody had stolen any of her bath tubs.

It wasn't every day that a fire magician, a living grimoire library, and a Saint just walked into a room, after all.

The blonde woman composed herself in front of the new guests. "So, did you enjoy your vacation?"

"Cut the crap." Stiyl Magnus said bluntly. "We don't want any games and you know that, too."

Laura narrowed her eyes and frowned, her features becoming sharper as her more serious side was revealed. "I suppose you're right. But I am curious to know why you three are back after I lied and manipulated you all."

The three looked at each other and back at her several times until Kanzaki answered. "We've decided to return to the Anglican Church because we can deter the number of magicians that seek the knowledge that Index wields."

"I don't want them getting hurt because they were protecting me, but I don't like this either." Index looked down sadly. Her eyes sharpened as she looked at Laura, her features resolved. "If you try to constrain me, I will not stand still like the last time. I'll use every single bit of knowledge form the grimoires if it comes to it.

"I am not afraid of you anymore." The silver-haired girl finished.

"Okay, then." The leader gave a sly smile, clapping her hands. "Frankly, you'll be more useful to me when you can consciously use magic. And I can't control you anymore, seeing as the spells I've placed on you seem to have been broken."

Index nodded at her statement, not becoming visibly upset at the woman's blunt intent for her. Stiyl gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, sending a discrete glare at Laura.

Kanzaki groaned quietly, rubbing her left temple as she looked at the woman who had been the source of Index's dilemma. "We are only doing this because we need to. If you try anything…"

To emphasize her point, the buxom girl raised her sheathed sword. Even if Laura was powerful enough to defeat her with magic, Kaori's threat was not deterred.

"I'll make sure to remember. Welcome back~." Laura sing-songed delightedly, her playful nature resurfacing. All signs of seriousness were long gone as the blonde woman grinned. However, she soon frowned at her empty teacup and the cooled pot on the table.

"Stiyl, would you mind heating up my tea, please~?" Laura asked, grabbing and holding up the teapot as the cooled liquid in it swished around.

'_This is the person we were scared of?_' The trio thought incredulously.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Well, that wraps up my rendition of the Three Stories Arc. I hope everybody isn't disappointed by the way I handled Etzali…

In all honesty, I'm really nervous about the way I wrote Laura Stuart, considering I haven't had much on her. What do you readers think?

I guess you guys weren't expecting the three to return, eh? I love throwing plot twists!

Once again, thanks to PokeRescue18 for being my beta-reader!

Finished after a trialing week-Loopsey


	16. A Giant Problem Has Occurred

Pre-Chapter Notes: I'm baaaaaaccccckkkkkkk~!

Sorry for not releasing a chapter last week. I was caught up in a mixture of procrastination, issues, low motivation, and even _more_ laziness.

Last week, I couldn't type out a single letter of this due to…

Well, I'll admit the reason in the Post-Chapter Notes.

But you didn't really come here to read about me complaining, you came to read my newest chapter!

Just read the frikkin' chapter already!

P.S. Thanks to PokeRescue18 for being my continued beta-reader.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Tsuchimikado Motoharu glared at the woman in the glowing pod, _very_ miffed at her most recent plans. "What the hell, Crowley, just _what the hell_. A magician should only be dealt with by a magician, _not_ somebody from the Science Side."

The blonde spy was referring to the magician that had broken into Academy City, Sherry Cromwell. She'd blasted past the security with her golem, fully intending to instigate a war between the Science and Magic Sides.

Alyssa Crowley had manipulated her into doing so, letting her catch word of a certain element that was known as the Imagine Breaker and even the Key to the Imaginary Number District. She'd known of Sherry's dead friend, Ellis, and made it known through misdirection that the anomalies might start a war between the two factions.

Through her conflicting views, Sherry Cromwell had taken it upon herself to 'cull' the Imagine Breaker and the Key to make sure that their combined presence would stop agitating the Magic and Science Sides.

Which had made Tsuchimikado question as to _why_ Crowley would risk two of the most important pieces in her plans.

Alyssa Crowley smiled. "Yes, that may hold weight. But…

"What if it was somebody who did not belong to either side, but their own?"

Motoharu grimaced, letting loose a low growl. He knew _exactly_ who the enigmatic woman was talking about and he didn't like the idea _at all_. "If he finds out that you sent somebody that wants to _kill_ him, it's going to be _your_ ass that he's going after."

The double-agent knew that Crowley held confidence in her schemes, but her latest was taking it a bit too far in his opinion. The tension between the two factions was already being stirred up by his friend's chaotic actions.

'_I know that he just does things on a whim, but it's like he's never heard about keeping quiet before!_' Tsuchimikado sighed, running a hand through his hair.

"Nevertheless, this course of action is essential to my plans." Alyssa revealed. "The magician's actions will shorten the amount of time it will take for the Key to strengthen. And with the increased activity of the Imagine Breaker and its host, the supernatural elements in this city are beginning to stir."

The blonde boy frowned at her cryptic words. Tsuchimikado knew of the Imaginary Number District and its unique resident, but the in-depth information was something that he had a hard time finding. The most he could glean was that his friend had a connection (how deep, he didn't know) with that resident's existence.

'_You really have your work cut out for you this time, Kami-yan._' Motoharu winced.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kamijou Touma sneezed as he walked in the hallway of A Certain High School.

He sniffed, rubbing his nose with a finger. '_Okay, that's it. Somebody's talking about me, but I don't know who._'

"Yo, Kami-yan!" Aogami Pierce called out with a friendly grin, appearing at Touma's side. "Did you hear the news? We're getting a new student and what's better, it's a girl!"

"What does this have to do with me?" The spiky-haired boy deadpanned.

"It means…" Aogami pointed at him accusingly with a vicious look on his face. "That your nefarious and contagious Kami-yan Disease hasn't been spread to every female in school!"

Kamijou stopped and stared at his blue-haired classmate in a mixture of shock and bemusement. "I don't spread it on purpose. If I actually had a choice in the matter, I'd stop all of that Kami-yan Disease crap and just get a girlfriend."

"Then why don't you!? You've got girls fawning after you for years, but you never picked a single one! _What_ is your reason for not choosing somebody!?" Aogami questioned loudly.

Coincidentally, the boy's loud words had garnered the interest of their passerby classmates and even a few of the teachers. Touma's good fortune with the fairer sex was widely known, but nobody had ever taken the time to know why he didn't commit himself into a relationship.

Specifically, the female students were taking extra care to listen in on Kamijou's response without looking like they were eavesdropping on the conversation.

"…That's a tough one to answer, Aogami. You really just caught me on the spot." Touma admitted sheepishly. "But…I guess you could say I'm waiting for a while."

"Waiting for what?" The blue-haired boy inquired skeptically, crossing his arms and raising his eyebrows. All of the other listeners were leaning in as discretely as they could, eager to know his response.

"Until I turn seventeen." Kamijou answered unhesitantly.

Everybody blinked in an eerie synchronization. Aogami brought a trembling hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"You mean to tell me that you're not going to start dating until your next birthday passes by. Okay. I'm not going to ask why because your answer might make me finally go crazy." The boy with several fetishes accepted quietly. "So, care to remind me when it is again?"

Aogami already knew the date of Kamijou's birthday, but he'd asked that question for the girls' benefit. While he absolutely loathed giving away a chance to get some female attention, Pierce wanted to help his friend of many years get someone to talk about his problems to.

After all, what kind of brother-in-all-but-blood would he be if he didn't know his friend's birthday?

Aogami could still remember the first day he'd met Kamijou. They'd both been eleven years old at the time, but the blue-haired boy still had trouble linking the image of the slightly lazy and sarcastic teenager with the temperamental youth.

He had hit up a conversation with Touma back then (it was so long ago that he wasn't even sure what the topic of that talk was in the first place) and somehow riled him up, resulting in the first swing of their time-consuming swing-and-dodge session.

It couldn't be called a fight when one side (Aogami) was using their fear to fuel their dodge reflexes and doing their best to avoid the steel-rending punches of the other side (Touma).

Several hours and one exhausted Pierce later, Kamijou had finally calmed down after his rage and apologized for his excitable behavior. Instead of being called a freak or monster like he'd expected, Touma had been forgiven and they'd struck up an unbreakable brotherhood.

Truthfully, the brotherhood was that of odd impulses and strange situations, but neither of them was fazed by them.

But that was then.

Now, Aogami would take on his (self-ordained) position as Touma's brother-in-all-but-blood and help him get a girlfriend!

"Oh, yeah, my birthday's on-" Kamijou's response was cut off by the ringing of the school bell that signaled the start of morning classes.

"We better get to class. I don't want to start the day with Komoe-sensei angry at me." He walked away, leaving everybody hanging in stark silence.

'_Such misfortune..._' The assortment of curious individuals lamented simultaneously, feeling as if a higher force had stolen a delicious cake from them.

The chance to know when Open Season (Touma's Dating Life) began had been wrenched away from them.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"Now, now, class, settle down." Tsukuyomi Komoe said cheerfully, calming down her bustling class. "I have some news for all of you."

"Hey, sensei, are we getting a new student?" Someone inquired from the cluster of seats in the classroom. That person's question proved to be the last trigger that was needed before the explosion of noise rang out.

"We have a right to know about our fellow classmates!" One person shouted hysterically.

"Please be a girl, please be a girl, please be a girl!" Another chanted fervently, clasping his hands in prayer.

"If it's a girl, then…"

All of the males went quiet and made paranoid glances over at the spiky-haired boy in the corner of the classroom. He blinked, oblivious to their plight.

"What?" Kamijou asked, raising an eyebrow.

"WE HAVE TO KEEP HER AWAY FROM KAMIJOU TOUMAAAAAAAAAA!" Every male in the classroom roared as one.

'_This class is absolutely nuts._' Touma thought hypocritically, shaking his head as he watched the crazed raving of the red-blooded male students. While he would wholeheartedly admit that he could be just as crazy as his classmates, Kamijou preferred to let it loose on his enemies.

People tended to pity those enemies once that fact was made known.

"…I'm going for more drinks with Yomikawa after this…" The small teacher murmured. She nodded over to Fukiyose Seiri, who took it as assent to quell the rowdy boys.

"CALM DOWN, YOU IDIOTS!" Fukiyose shouted. Her loud order immediately calmed down the bustle with a practiced ease.

"Thank you, Fukiyose-chan. Now, you're all correct. We're having a new transfer student and yes, she's a girl." Komoe confirmed with a smile. She waved over to the door. "Come in, Himegami-chan!"

Touma's eyes widened and his head snapped over to the door, which slowly slid open. A long-haired girl in their school's uniform walked in quietly and stopped next to the pink-clad teacher.

"Class, meet Himegami Aisa-chan. She's new to the school, so take care of her!" Tsukuyomi encouraged, writing down the new student's name on the board.

"I hope to get along with all of you." Himegami bowed quietly. Her eyes fell on a certain boy and she cracked a small smile. "Hello, Kamijou-san."

The entire class froze.

If the other classes of A Certain High School were to see the spectacle, they would marvel at how _quiet_ the class was. Year 1, Class 7 was notorious for their special brand of organized chaos and strange banter-rants.

But the new transfer student had thrown the class into a stone-cold silence with two words.

"No…" One of the boys denied. "No…no no no no no no no No No NO NO NNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"IT CAN'T BE! THE KAMI-YAN DISEASE HAS EVOLVED TO WHERE IT TRIGGER FLAGS AT A MERE GLANCE!"

"HOW DOES SHE KNOW HIM ALREADYYYYYYYYY!?"

"Um, I already knew her before now." Touma elaborated calmly. "Her…well, I guess you could say guardian, asked me to look after her and help her grow accustomed to Academy City."

"LIES!" His explanation had been rejected without a second thought.

"It's true." Himegami spoke up. "My adoptive father is very protective of me and Touma proved himself capable of looking after me."

The responses were just as loud as the last time.

"DAMNIT, HE GOT PAST THE OVER-PROTECTIVE FATHER!?"

"IS THERE NO LIMIT TO THE KAMI-YAN DISEASE!?"

"DIE! KAMI-YAN NEEDS TO GO DIE!"

"Aogami, you're siding with them!?" Touma spluttered, hearing his friend make that last death threat.

The blue-haired boy froze as he realized that his fellow Delta Trio member had heard him. Aogami rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. "Sorry about that, Kami-yan. I got caught up in the flow. So…"

He suddenly appeared closer to Touma's desk and sat down on the chair in front of it. His eyes held a gleam of eager curiosity. "How'd you do it?"

"Do what? You have to specify." Kamijou responded blandly.

"You know! Come on, you can tell your friend, right?" Aogami prodded.

The spiky-haired boy could barely hear him over the multitude of death-threats that he was getting from their male classmates.

"No, I don't know." Touma shook his head.

His white uniform shirt was quickly clutched in Aogami's fists and Kamijou was pulled closer until the two members of the Delta Trio were centimeters apart. Pierce was staring his friend in the eye, his eyelids open enough to deliver a normally lethal glare.

'_Every time he opens them, that eye-color still surprises me…_' That random thought was a testament to how calm Touma would be in the face of danger. It was a rare occasion that Aogami would take anything seriously.

"Kami-yan…" Aogami hissed. "Do you have any idea of what you did?"

"Not a damn clue." Kamijou was unfazed.

"You got past the obstacle that is known as the over-protective father and gained the flag of another bishoujo." The blue-haired boy explained in a low tone. "You have done what many doggedly determined suitors have done in a matter of what might have been minutes. You gained the approval of the girl's father.

"It's supposed to be impossible for someone like you, but it happened." Aogami retracted from his friend, trembling like a leaf in the wind. He let go and slowly stood up from the borrowed seat that he'd taken.

"Kami-yan, you are a _god._" The boy concluded with reverence, falling to his knees. He began a series of deep bows to the disturbed Touma.

"ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN! ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN!" Aogami chanted, possessed in his worship.

"… Screw it. ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN!" Another one of the boys capitulated upon seeing what Aogami was doing.

"ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN! ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN! ALL HAIL KAMI-YAN!"

The entire room was filled with the loud and synchronized chanting of worship for Kamijou Touma. All of the males and even some of female classmates had started to bow down to the 'Almighty Reach of the Kami-yan Disease.'

Said 'god' was attempting to sneak away while nobody was looking. He felt someone tap onto his shoulder and felt his heart drop to his stomach. Kamijou gulped and turned around to find Himegami with a curious look on her face.

"Does that happen often?" The quiet girl inquired, pointing at the loud display of Class 7's sanity-deficient students.

"…Kind of, yeah." Touma's shoulder's sagged as he felt the misfortune of the day outweighing the fortune from his bright morning.

'_Damn you, luck!_' Kamijou cursed internally.

"Kamijou," Fukiyose came up beside Himegami, looking pointedly at the addressed boy.

"Yeah?" He turned his gaze to her.

"You know Himegami here, right?" Deep Blood and Kamijou raised an eyebrow each, but the latter nodded.

Seiri nodded. "Good. That means you're going to mediate between us on the rooftop."

Touma tilted his head at what the girl had said. "What?"

"To the rooftop!" Fukiyose hooked an arm around both Kamijou and Himegami's arms, dragging them away by using the panic in the classroom to sneak away silently.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"You must really like health bread, huh?" Kamijou mused, looking at the assortment of nutritious loafs that Seiri had bought while they had been trekking to the rooftop of the school building.

Every school in Academy City had at least five different vending machines on their campuses that included healthy snacks, ensuring that students would keep their nutrition to the bare minimum. Academy City had reasoned it as being that their students needed their minds in tip-top shape for utilizing their psychic abilities.

It helped that the food actually tasted good, too.

"Is there something wrong with wanting to eat healthy?" The Iron Wall Girl eyed Touma, daring him to answer her question.

Touma held his hands up in mock-surrender and an indifferent look on his face. "Hey, I just wanted to that out. You always seem to be eating health and nutrition stuff."

"There's nothing wrong with always eating healthy." Himegami interjected, adding in her own 2 yen to the conversation.

Seiri smirked in victory. "See? Himegami knows what I'm getting at, unlike you."

Kamijou shrugged carelessly. "It's just that I've never felt, well…"

He frowned, trying to find the right word.

The girls shared a brief glance as Touma was confused on how to continue his statement. After another two minutes of deliberation, Aisa offered her suggestion. "Do you mean that you've never felt unhealthy?"

His face brightened to a noticeable degree, snapping his fingers at the vocal provision. "Yeah, that's it! I've never felt sick before!"

"That's what a lot of people say. Surely, you must have had some sick days, right?...

"Right?" Fukiyose asked reluctantly.

Her mind was brought back to the physical feats Kamijou had performed and began to think that, _maybe_, it was not only his strength and speed that were above average. There was a large possibility that the physical enhancements were on the internal level, greatly influencing the immune system. The normal immune system was strong, but the thought of it being enhanced to the same degree as street-pulverizing strength drove a proverbial stake of ice into Seiri's spine.

Himegami was having similar thoughts, but there were some additions that the Iron Wall Girl had never known about. She'd sometimes seen Aureolus (in one of his more 'passionate' researching rampages) study, experiment, and concoct theories on the nature and physical composition of Divine Beings.

Izzard had been able to gain several samples as he discovered minor holy artifacts during his travels. Using those as the base of his experiments, the alchemist extracted and isolated a fragment of the divine energy that normally lay within the relics.

Aisa remembered the otherworldly energy well. She could tell, upon setting her eyes near the liquid light that was known as holy energy, that it was not of the human worlds. The energy had emitted an ethereal light that coated all in its path, smooth surfaces reflecting the white glow. Himegami had been set on edge by the illogical energy, not knowing what it might do next.

She was _not_ supposed to know what the divine energy would do next.

It originally hailed from another dimension entirely, barely adhering to the physics of the universe that the humans inhabited a miniscule fragment of. Its conformity was questionable at best, instigating what Humanity had labeled as a Miracle if its original purpose was triggered.

Presently, Aisa was eyeing Touma carefully. Her reserved gaze kept careful notes on the acute muscle movements in his arms, facial gestures that would seemingly be natural, and many other details. It was too strange to Deep Blood. She could not understand why Kamijou was giving off an 'alien' feeling, despite being human.

Touma walked like a normal person, ate like a normal person (albeit a bit quickly, but he might have just been hungry), and even _complained_ like a normal person.

But Himegami could not brush off the 'air' of extra-naturality that hung around him like a haze. It was floating there invisibly, stating for all who would listen that its host was _different_. It added, almost like an after-thought, that something strange would happen to its host on a recurring daily basis.

"Himegami!"

The shout startled Deep Blood out of her deeper thoughts, answering to whoever had called for her. "Y-Yes?"

"Are you alright? I was asking if you wanted some bread." Seiri presumably repeated, looking exasperated at Aisa's inattentiveness. The Iron Wall Girl was holding out a hand that held a still-wrapped piece of nutritional bread on it.

"…" The new student was silent. She stared at the bread, her mind weighting the pro's and con's of her decision.

"You can just accept it. It's not like there's any pressure, Himegami." Touma smiled encouragingly, knowing of Fukiyose's peace offer as she attempted to make friends with the new student.

Aisa's cheeks flushed at his smile and gentle words, shaking her head rapidly to cool the heat that was building up. She quickly snatched the bread out of Seiri's outstretched hand with quiet thanks and hastily tore open the wrapper, munching down on the bread.

'_This…is actually kind of good…_' Himegami admitted internally, having expected a more bland taste from the nutritional bread. After finishing it, she looked hungrily at the other packets lying next to Seiri. She'd forgotten to make a lunch that day, hoping that the cafeteria would have decently priced food.

Aisa never really got to find out, considering that she'd been dragged out of her first class after a loud chaos erupted.

"I guess she likes it." Kamijou leaned back with a sigh of relief, Fukiyose nodding in agreement.

With that, the rest of the impromptu lunch break was spent with chats between the two girls and Touma without refrain.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

"That was weird…" Kamijou murmured, walking down the slope-like path that connected to the entrance of A Certain High School.

After he and the girls had come back down from the rooftop, all of the students they encountered were staring at Touma in either fright or reverence. From what he could gather, some of the boys in his class (headed by Aogami, no doubt) began to spread word of the Kami-yan Disease's 'evolution'.

The rumors in the school were reaching truly ridiculous proportions, rivaling crazed conspiracy schemes. There had been one where Touma's four-month 'vacation' had been entirely spent with the newly-transferred Himegami and they'd become intimate in some manner. Another one involved Kamijou fighting the girl's father for her hand in marriage.

"Such misfortune." Touma groaned as he hung his head low. However, it soon snapped back up as he felt an uncanny presence.

There was a creature with a trait of divinity nearby.

"What would a thing of biblical holiness be doing in this cold city of faithlessness?" Kamijou questioned rhetorically. He increased his pace to match the brisk speed of the holy presence, hoping to get a read on whatever it was and why it was in Academy City.

Touma was not exactly _fond_ of extra-natural beings, considering his first battle with the Invisible Thing and the Demon Lord Baal. Both of them had shown incomprehensible abilities that strained the limits of the Imagine Breaker, which was already devoting a heavy fragment of its power to keeping the former being sealed inside.

Kamijou frowned as he heard a gravelly rumbling in the distance and sped up to what he considered a light jog. In the perception of a normal human, the spiky-haired boy was blurring at top speeds that only a cheetah could hope to match.

He turned the corner, barely shifting himself from leaving a deep body-shaped imprint in the wall, street, or both. Skidding to a stop, Touma found himself looking at the scene of a teenage girl with long brown hair running from a giant made of stone.

"Oh, for fuck's sake…" Kamijou murmured crassly, cracking his knuckles as he calmly made his way over. "Hey!"

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Kazakiri Hyouka turned to the new voice and found herself shocked at who she just heard. Of all the people to find her, it _had_ to be the one she feared the most. Most of Kazakiri's conscious life had been spent wandering through the Imaginary District as she gradually attained more knowledge of the worlds she had been manifested into.

Hyouka had met a strange dark-skinned woman in a gothic dress earlier that day. The woman had been somewhat difficult to understand, speaking of her being an 'obstruction that had to be culled'.

After that, the earth below her had rumbled and out came the giant golem that was known as Ellis.

The creature of earth rumbled as it came closer, seeking to fulfill its objective of eliminating the Key. The girl stumbled onto the ground in the middle of her running, leaving her as an easy target for the golem. Bringing a large fist that was primarily composed of dirt, the giant prepared to eliminate the AIM anomaly. The wind howled vigorously as the fist was brought down at impossible speeds. Nearing the downed girl, it abruptly stopped at some type of obstacle.

The obstacle in question was, improbably enough, a human. Normally, it would be impossible for a normal human to stop the weighted fist of a magical golem.

On the other hand, 'normal' was not a word that could be used to describe the human. Impossible seemed _entirely_ fitting for what he was performing.

The golem rumbled in confusion, its fist stuck to the obstacle that would not let the limb get released. Its form shook, attempting to use whatever strength it held to be free of the obstacle. Ellis's efforts were in vain, for the human had gotten a firm grip on its fist and would not let go.

Kamijou was effortlessly gripping the golem's fist with only his left hand, taking care not to dispel it. While it would be good to eliminate the threat, Touma did not want to risk having all of the debris that formed the giant monster to come loose and crash down on the downed girl. A giant of stone like the one he was restricting could _not_ exist like that without the merciless forces of gravity weighing its body down. Thus, the entire thing could fall apart upon contact with the Imagine Breaker while the two people under it would be its first and only victims.

The spiky-haired boy was confident that he could weather the rain of stones, but he was mostly certainly that the girl near him could do the same.

Mostly.

Kamijou had seen that the dark-haired girl was the source of the divine energies, but he couldn't see her consciously channeling any of it. It made him slightly relieved to know that he could stop the destructive creature from crushing the girl, but he was suspicious of the circumstances that were taking place.

'_There's no doubt. Another magician's entered the city!_' Touma concluded, scowling at the giant creature. Magic was the only explanation for the golem's continued existence, seeing as there were no geokinetic espers in the city that could perform such a feat of power. And from what he knew of the Level 5's, none of them had the ability to construct a pseudo-sentient earth monster. In all likeliness, Gunha might have developed that ability or it might be by the enigmatic Number 6's machinations.

Truthfully, he didn't really care who made it. But the spiky-haired boy would not tolerate needless violence and the loss of innocent lives.

"You want your arm back?" Kamijou muttered under his breath, watching the golem's fruitless attempts to gain its restrained limb back with boredom. Kazakiri felt disturbed by the tone his voice was taking, likening it to the calm before the storm.

"You can have it." Touma shoved the golem away.

The giant creature was lifted several meters off the ground and sailed through the air at impressive speeds, crashing with a mighty quake. Ellis twitched in confusion as it attempted to regain its bearings after the jarring throw. A golem was not made with the purpose of falling to the ground and being able to get up as easily as the regular human. No, they were used to crush all in their conjurer's way, removing obstacles along their path. The golem groaned, slowly lifting itself off the ground as its loud sounds echoed in the quiet street block.

"Are you alright?" Kamijou asked worriedly, bending down on one knee to look at the fallen girl. She averted her gaze, but nodded at his question.

He sighed in relief. "That's good. A lost life would give some heavy guilt to this Kamijou-san, you know?"

Touma jabbed a thumb back at the gradually rising Ellis. "We should probably go before that thing gets back up again."

"Y-Yes." Kazakiri stuttered, shakily getting to her feet. She was careful to avoid Kamijou's entire right side as she didn't want to risk even the smallest chance of coming into contact with one of the factors that created her. It was an ultimate irony that the destroyer of illusions unexpectedly created Hyouka, but it did not mean that she was immune to being destroyed by it.

Kamijou took the lead with Kazakiri at his left, both of them briskly jogging away from the rumbling giant. The spiky-haired boy took an occasional glance back, checking to see if the golem had finally picked itself up and come chasing after them. It never hurt to be too cautious in situations where there was a building-sized enemy that was surely aiming to kill.

"So, why is a big damn rock monster is chasing after you?" Kamijou asked bluntly. Problems often grew more and more troubling if they weren't dealt with when they were minimal. Baal had proven that, having had years at his disposal to prepare the Devil Rise.

"It's…" Hyouka winced unsurely. "It's complicated."

"I've got time. Explain, if you don't mind."

Kazakiri's nose scrunched up at his insistence, but gave in. "I'm Kazakiri Hyouka, a denizen of the Imaginary Number District. Kamijou Touma, you had an inadvertent hand in my creation."

She'd spoken that last part in the literal sense, looking warily at the boy's right hand. He nodded as he accepted the explanation without a hitch, not feeling any type of insincerity in her words.

What reason did she have to lie when she was being chased by a monster? None. With that reasoning in mind, Kazakiri felt no need to hold back on informing Kamijou of her situation.

"You're an artificial being, then?" He inquired.

"Yes. I was created from the large amalgamation of AIM fields that are emitted from the esper students in Academy City. However, I did not gain awareness of the world around me until you and your right hand entered this city at the age of seven." Kazakiri continued. "The anomaly that takes the form of your right hand had a…unique effect on the AIM in this city and a chain reaction occurred."

"You were the end result." Kamijou guessed.

"Correct. It wasn't until the Index Librorum Prohibitorum accessed her 103,000 'grimoires' in that 'John's Penn Mode' that I fully materialized on the physical plane of the humans." The girl looked put-out at the unfamiliar terms that Magic entailed. Kazakiri was a being that was created from science, magic, and whatever type of phenomenon that the Imagine Breaker was, but she found herself only a bit more informed than the average occupant of Academy City.

"…Damn. That's one hell of a combo platter." Touma couldn't resist the small snark, seeking to ease the tense atmosphere between them. He checked back to see if the golem was hot on their heels, but it was no longer in sight. Hyouka turned her head to look back and felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Both of the teenagers slowed to a relaxed walk, not winded in the least bit after jogging for a number of what might have been minutes.

"But that doesn't explain why that thing was trying to kill you, though." The spiky-haired boy pointed out. "Is it because some magicians see it as heretical to have magic and science work together?"

Hyouka bit her lap thoughtfully, taking his suggestion into consideration. "Possibly. I don't have an idea of why she would try to attack me with that giant."

"Wait, you said 'she'. That means that you saw who did it. You can tell me what they look like and I can stop them from trying to do anymore damage." Kamijou asked intently. He'd gotten it into his mind that some magicians would have an odd fashion sense, most likely standing out if they went into public. It was mostly correct when Touma took account of the clothing he'd seen on the trio that formerly belonged to the Anglican Church and Tsuchimikado.

"She's after you as well, if what I heard from her about the Imagine Breaker was correct." Hyouka informed.

"….." Kamijou was quiet. He was very quiet after registering that piece of information into his mind.

"Um…" Kazakiri backed up slowly, unnerved by the spiky-haired boy's shifting atmosphere. His previous exasperation looked like it was giving way to a cold ruthlessness.

"Hohohohohoho, is that so?" Touma chuckled darkly. His laugh was bringing even more trepidation to the artificial being that he'd been talking with. "Well, if she's fighting with a big monster, then…

"I'll fight with an even _bigger_ monster." Kamijou smirked, holding up a glowing blue fist that crackled with charged energy.

)))))) Line Break ((((((

Post-Chapter Notes: Kazakiri Hyouka Arc has begun!

The fact that I ended the chapter like that left me satisfied, what with the foreshadowing and all.

In the Pre-Chapter Notes, I probably left you all wondering about the last reason I didn't have a chapter out last week.

I'm going to admit this with full acknowledgement that I might get flamed.

I have barely read any of the TAMNI Light Novels. I've been mainly consulting the wiki (which is thankfully chock-full of information) for just about _everything_ that I've been using in this story.

And I just realized that Yomikawa was in Anti-Skill instead of Judgment as well. Man, I really screwed the pooch there…

I will take each and every flame without regret, considering that it seems like many of my readers have likely read through the entirety of the Light Novels.

So, I apologize if it feels like I pulled a grievous sin of writing a TAMNI fic while having little to no knowledge of the inner works of the plot.

Part of the reason I was worried about characterization was because I mostly took what I knew from the character profiles in the wiki.

Seriously, when I typed out the part about Touma's class, I think I drove myself straight into crack fic territory there. I guess it's because the class is already so weird in canon that I probably went wild with them…

I know you're probably wondering why this story's Kamijou is waiting 'till he's seventeen before he starts dating, but it will be explained later on. I can give you the hint that the reason is connected to the Imagine Breaker.

How? Wait until it comes up in a future chapter.

How far into the future? I don't know. I'll integrate the explanation in _some_ part, at least.

Important news: I might change my username and the name of this fic in the future, so be on the lookout if the next chapter is updated under a different name.

Also, I might start writing that Touma/Othinus fic I was talking about soon. I'd have to alternate between the two stories, but it's been eating at me to start at least a one-shot about casual arguments between the two.

Many thanks to my beta reader, PokeRescue18, for pointing out any errors that they find in this chapter!

Leave a review about what you thought of this late chapter, please!

Signing off in high spirits-Loopsey


End file.
